Four members of the Guyana Police Force, including the Commander of ‘F’ Division Kevin Adonis and the recently reinstated Simon McBean, were promoted on Wednesday by the Police Service Commission (PSC).
PSC Chairman Paul Slowe told Sunday Stabroek that the promotions were announced following a meeting held on Wednesday.
Adonis, who was a Senior Superintendent, and McBean, a Superintendent, were both elevated to the rank of Assistant Commissioner, while Ewart Wray, Head of the Immigration Department, was elevated from a Superintendent to a Senior Superintendent, and Cadet Officer Jermaine Dufu was elevated to the rank of Assistant Superintendent.
Sunday Stabroek understands that the promotions were done in order to prepare for the approaching retirements of several senior ranks.
Slowe said that more ranks are expected to be promoted by year end.
Three of the ranks who were contacted by this newspaper yesterday said that their promotions were as a result of hard work, dedication and discipline.
They said they plan to use their promotions as motivation to keep doing better.
“I feel good after working so hard with the Guyana Police Force for thirty-five plus years and being so discipline. Good things come to those who wait,” Adonis, who has served at the helm of various policing divisions, told Sunday Stabroek.
“…You know, of course you would be happy that you have been promoted to a higher rank and aspire to do better so that more promotions can come,” Dufu added.
In 2014, Dufu won the Guyana Police Force’s “Best Cop” award.
Wray, on the other hand, said that his promotion is an indication that the administration of the force is pleased with his performance. “I feel quite humbled to be promoted to a rank of Senior Superintendent,” he said.
He said that he believed that the delivery of the efficient service by ranks of the Immigration Department played a major role in his selection.
“The Immigration Department has been doing well in recent times. We are having positive feedback from the public regarding the service we are providing at our passport offices in particular, and at the ports of entry…..so I must say thanks to them [immigration ranks],” Wray noted.
This newspaper was unable to make contact with McBean.
In last June this year, McBean was reinstated almost 10 years after he was wrongfully dismissed from the Guyana Police Force.
The then 35-year-old had received marching orders in 2009, almost a year after he had already returned to Guyana from studies abroad and resumed duties. It was alleged that he made an unauthorised decision to proceed on “no pay leave” to further his studies.
Having secured a scholarship from a field of 250 applicants to pursue a Master’s Degree in Global Security at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom (UK), McBean said he applied for study leave to cover the academic year between October 1st, 2007 and September 30th, 2008.
At the time of his dismissal, he had already dedicated 17 years of his life to the force.
His reinstatement was the result of discussions between his attorney, Patrice Henry, and the Attorney General’s Chambers after the Court of Appeal ruled in McBean’s favour in a suit in which he challenged his dismissal.
In April last year, the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned an earlier decision made by the High Court. The State, the respondent in the case, had opted not to appeal the ruling.
In court documents filed to challenge his dismissal, McBean had said he got no response from the PSC regarding his request for leave. According to him, he thereafter made an application for no-pay leave, but again received no response.
As a result, McBean said he applied for and was granted his three-month accumulated annual leave, upon which he proceeded before thereafter travelling to London to pursue his studies.
The dismissed officer had said that while abroad he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was advised by the doctor to “stay on and finish the degree since it would help to improve my condition.” McBean returned to Guyana on September 14th, 2008, after completing his studies and resumed normal duties until he received a dismissal letter on September 4th, 2009, informing him that his services had been terminated as of Christmas Day of 2007—the day after his three-month annual leave ended.
An aggrieved McBean, who thereafter took the PSC to court for wrongful dismissal, argued that while it claimed that he was being dismissed for breach of regulation, it never said what regulation was breached.
Appellate judges Rishi Persaud, Arif Bulkan and Rafiq Khan unanimously agreed that it was undisputed that McBean had no hearing, notwithstanding the procedures laid out in the PSC Rules and the Police Disciplinary Act. The Court allowed the appeal and remitted the matter to the High Court for assessment on quantum of damages and superannuation benefits, which would have accrued, having declared that he had been wrongfully dismissed.
