From our archives: Manning rejects Stephen Williams as CoP

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2008

Williams silent on "secret" meeting with Manning

Senior Supt Stephen Williams acknowledged that he met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning at Whitehall last week. He said it was one of several meetings he has had with Manning in the past few weeks and refused to comment on discussions at the meeting, citing confidentiality.

Manning's government rejected Williams' nomination of Police Commissioner last week saying while his qualifications were never in question, the selection and recruitment process was "flawed."

But at a news conference Monday Williams disagreed with that explanation.“The legislation is not flawed. The process is not flawed. That is my opinion. It is not flawed.”

Williams said, “It was a specifically-designed process to bring a specifically-designed result—a process which when followed will result in a candidate nominated by the Service Commission for appointment to Commissioner of Police...There is no flaw in the process."

On the meeting with Manning at which Manning allegedly told him to withdraw his name for the post of police chief Williams wondered why people are fussing about that one meeting when he has held several others with Manning.

“I, in fact, met with the honourable Prime Minister on more than one occasion over the last few weeks,” Williams said.

He made it clear that he was not going to reveal anything from the confidential meetings. “If the prime minister is of the view that there are things out of those meetings that he would want to make public, surely you can contact him and he would furnish that," he explained.

The new acting commissioner, James Philbert, was also at the news conference. He told reporters he isn't interested in applying again for the post of police commissioner.

He was not the first choice of the Police Service Commission (PSC) but the commission chose him over their number one nominee to act.

Both he and Williams pledged to work together, saying there is no animosity between them.

Philbert failed a lie detector test during the selection process for the CoP's job. He told reporters that he had good reasons to lie.

"I was confronted with decisions to make with regards to covert operations which have been conducted in the past...I chose not to reveal certain things and I was called after to explain, which I explained and I understand that the explanation is an accepted explanation.”

Philbert said there were other reasons as well, adding that some issues bordered on national security.

Philbert rejected as "frivolous", claims by the Opposition that he was favoured for the post because he had been carrying out the agenda of the ruling People's National Movement (PNM).

He denied that he received any favours. “I went through the same rigours that everybody else went through, because I thought that I could offer the country something out of my experience, my knowledge of policing, to bring the situation under control."