The August 31, 2018 swearing in of Assistant Commissioner Leslie James as the country’s new Commissioner of Police had come after months of speculation over who would be President David Granger’s pick to replace the outgoing Commissioner Seelall Persaud whose exit from the position had come in the wake of questions that had been raised over investigations into an alleged plot to assassinate the Head of State. What had also made Persaud’s likely replacement a matter of intense public interest was the long-held view that the primary failing of the Force had been, largely though not exclusive, a function of leadership deficiencies. That has long been a criticism of the Force, so that it seemed that the likely pick would be the one whom, in President Granger’s view, had the most eye-catching leadership qualities.
The widespread public ‘betting’ – which, all too frequently, is based on sketchy and unreliable criteria – did not particularly fancy Assistant Commissioner Leslie James, so that when it was reported in the Stabroek News on August 30 that another Assistant Commissioner, Nigel Hoppie, was the President’s likely pick, few people appeared unduly surprised. The President had, days earlier, set out his own critical criteria for occupancy of the position. He wanted, he said, an “unbribable” Commissioner, that pronouncement sending a clear message that there were official concerns at the highest level in the land (to go along with even more widespread public concerns) about corruption in the Force.
All of this had been taking place against a backdrop of a fair degree of drama preceding the eventual choice of Commissioner. Against the backdrop of the widely expressed concerns over leadership issues in the Force it appears that a decision had been made that the eight most senior officers would be put through a series of ‘tests’ that would help in determining who would lead the GPF, going forward. James, along with Lyndon Alves, Paul Williams, Nigel Hoppie, Clifton Hicken and Marlon Chapman, all Assistant Commissioners, along with the only female in the leadership lineup, Assistant Commissioner Maxine Graham, were considered to be ‘in the running,’ so to speak, for the position. The other applicant, and the ranking police officer, Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine, who, at the time was acting as Commissioner following the retirement of Persaud, was also a candidate for the Commissioner’s job. His failure to get the job or even to secure promotion to the rank of Deputy Commissioner came as a major shock in some quarters and was almost certainly responsible for his subsequent early retirement from the Force.
