Dear Editor,
Earlier testimony before the Commission of Inquiry into the March 2020 elections raised serious questions regarding the conduct of the Guyana Police. Much anticipated testimony from the former Commissioner of Police Leslie James and former Deputy Commissioner Maxine Graham provided no satisfactory answers and raised serious questions about their competence and credibility.
As I watched the performance of both witnesses, I was reminded of a conversation with the late former Chancellor Aubrey Bishop in which he lamented that police incompetence was a major impediment in the justice system. Yet, it is hard to believe that level of incompetence could rise to the very top of the police force. Incompetence is not a crime. The question before the Commission is whether the top brass of the Guyana Police Force at the relevant time, were as incompetent as their evidence suggests or whether that was a cover.
Notes and statements are integral parts of police work. Both James and Graham declined to provide statements to the Commission and given their performance, those were probably good decisions. However, it is hardly a good example when the two most senior officers in the force failed to make notes of important events, actions and decisions. It is professional malpractice. It is troubling when senior ranks cannot say what records were kept and where they can be found: when police officers can remove, retain and destroy records created in the course of their employment without consequences.
The evidence of former Commissioner James was a dog’s breakfast. It was riddled with prevarications and contradictions with a good diet of oxymorons for good measure (“yes, (sic) I am sure I might have”). Many of his responses lacked conviction and certainty. In many instances reconstruction was submitted as recollection. The essence of his testimony was captured in an exchange with Counsel that caused her to add the word “advent” to her vocabulary in a moment of levity. His explanation of his decision to remove Thomas as Commander summarily was as implausible and unconvincing as his reason for sending the TSU to GECOM on March 5. Both had more holes than a sieve but evidently, that was not a concern.
Graham had the benefit of testifying after James but still could not hold the story line. She told the Commission she had 2, maybe 3 conversations with Commander Thomas on March 5 and did not receive any specific instructions from James that day. Turns out that she had at least 5 conversations with Thomas and received at least one and possibly 3 (according to James) direct instructions from James that day on subjects that are material to the enquiry. She testified that James informed a meeting on or about March 6 that he ordered the TSU to go to GECOM “to clear the building.” Later in her testimony she attempted to walk that back. Both were terrible witnesses. They contradicted themselves and each other several times and despite many attempts to clean up their evidence, they just couldn’t get their stories straight. For example, both James and Graham testified that Thomas was removed and Azore was installed as Commander around 2pm on March 5 but neither of them informed Azore. James said he instructed Graham to do so but Graham testified that she never received such instructions from James and never informed Azore. Aside from the obvious contradiction, the implication is that Azore usurped the power of Commander on March 5 without authorisation from either James or Graham.
In another example, James testified that around 6pm on March 5, he ordered the TSU to return to Ashmin with specific instructions to report to Commander Thomas. However, according to his evidence, by that time he had already removed Thomas as Commander (around 2 pm that day) and Azore had already taken took over as Commander. James also told the Commission that he tried to reach Thomas after the TSU arrived at Ashmin that night despite testifying repeatedly that there was no need for him to speak with Thomas after he relieved him of his duties as Commander earlier that day. He said he refused to answer calls from Thomas that afternoon as “the decision was already made” and Azore was in charge. This casts doubt on the evidence of James and Graham that Thomas was removed and Azore was installed as Commander earlier that day.
James and Graham were not reliable witnesses. In their demeanour they presented as witnesses who had no desire to assist the Commission. They were evasive, argumentative and at times combative. Their memories were convenient, selective and inconsistent: exceptional to fit the narrative and poor when it was inconvenient. Graham for example, could not remember her own phone number but was able to recite Thomas’s number when she wanted to support her claim that she called him. Then there was a protracted exchange between James and Counsel before he finally accepted the proposition that a Superintendent was junior to an Assistant Commissioner. In stark contrast, Superintendent Cristal Robinson and Detective Junior Blair delivered their evidence in a clear and straightforward manner.
Of note, the intonation of their strong denials of any interaction with Roxanne Myers on March 5 was overdone. They came across as if that was their singular purpose. There is no question that the Guyana Police Force had its hands on the scale during the events at the Ashmin building in March 2020 and James, by virtue of his position, actions and admissions was responsible. The suggestion that the timing of his actions in relation to other significant events was pure coincidence does not meet the small test. Willful blindness was apparent in his evaluation of television coverage. His actions are as questionable as his inaction in many instances. His reluctance to acknowledge matters that are now public knowledge was significant. Questions regarding his competence, bias and complicity will continue to linger.
Counsel and the Commissioners did an excellent job probing witnesses, notwithstanding their limited local knowledge. I am sure Google will tell them that the distance from Police Headquarters to the Ashmin building is more like a mile and a half, not three and a half.
Sincerely,
Milton Jagannath
