The chairmen of the two main parties in the People's Partnership are offended by statements made last Friday by Nizam Mohammed, chairman of the Police Service Commission and have suggested that Mohammed should resign.
The Chairman of the United National Congress told the Express newspaper Mohammed's statement about the ethnic imbalance in the police service and his determination to fix it using Parliament will negatively affect the Government.
"I am very disappointed in him, I know the guy well, I'm disappointed in him. He has done a disservice to the Government and to the party by his conduct. I expect that my colleagues will deal with this matter but this hasn't done us very well at all as a government," Warner said.
"I would have thought that a man of his stature would have been more circumspect. If I were in his position and I had done that, I would have resigned.
"I feel offended because if you look at the history of the Police Service, you would understand that even in the old days when you couldn't get people to work in the police service, we had to go to Barbados to get police officers to work here because nobody wanted to work in the Police Service and therefore what we have now evolved over time," Warner added.
Warner's counterpart in the Congress of the People (COP) Joseph Toney, also believes Mohammed should quit. He called the statements "grievously unfortunate".
Toney suggested that it is going to cause racial tensions to rise in the country, adding that the People's Partnership has been doing its best to eliminate such issues.
"We cannot be having a head count. And where will it stop?...It has to stop or else we would be very very divided as a nation and we would not progress as a nation...
"I think that Mr Mohammed may want to look at his options and may want to consider whether indeed he is the most suitable person to be the chairman of the Police Service Commission," Toney said.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said President Maxwell Richards has agreed to meet with him sometime this week and he also intends to raise the issue as a matter of serious concern.
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj also expressed his concern over Mohammed's comments and suggested that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should meet the president to ask him to fire Mohammed.
"The Prime Minister has a duty to the country to have done that...The neglect or omission of the Prime Minister to have acted on this matter since last Friday may give the impression that the statements made by the chairman of the Police Service Commission reflect the present agenda of her Government," he said.
However one constitutional expert told JYOTI the commission is an independent body and it would be improper for the PM or the government to interfere in its operations and to try to influence who sits as commissioners.
The Chairman of the United National Congress told the Express newspaper Mohammed's statement about the ethnic imbalance in the police service and his determination to fix it using Parliament will negatively affect the Government.
"I am very disappointed in him, I know the guy well, I'm disappointed in him. He has done a disservice to the Government and to the party by his conduct. I expect that my colleagues will deal with this matter but this hasn't done us very well at all as a government," Warner said.
"I would have thought that a man of his stature would have been more circumspect. If I were in his position and I had done that, I would have resigned.
"I feel offended because if you look at the history of the Police Service, you would understand that even in the old days when you couldn't get people to work in the police service, we had to go to Barbados to get police officers to work here because nobody wanted to work in the Police Service and therefore what we have now evolved over time," Warner added.
Warner's counterpart in the Congress of the People (COP) Joseph Toney, also believes Mohammed should quit. He called the statements "grievously unfortunate".
Toney suggested that it is going to cause racial tensions to rise in the country, adding that the People's Partnership has been doing its best to eliminate such issues.
"We cannot be having a head count. And where will it stop?...It has to stop or else we would be very very divided as a nation and we would not progress as a nation...
"I think that Mr Mohammed may want to look at his options and may want to consider whether indeed he is the most suitable person to be the chairman of the Police Service Commission," Toney said.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said President Maxwell Richards has agreed to meet with him sometime this week and he also intends to raise the issue as a matter of serious concern.
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj also expressed his concern over Mohammed's comments and suggested that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should meet the president to ask him to fire Mohammed.
"The Prime Minister has a duty to the country to have done that...The neglect or omission of the Prime Minister to have acted on this matter since last Friday may give the impression that the statements made by the chairman of the Police Service Commission reflect the present agenda of her Government," he said.
However one constitutional expert told JYOTI the commission is an independent body and it would be improper for the PM or the government to interfere in its operations and to try to influence who sits as commissioners.
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