Guest Commentary: PP government takes aim at crime and the economy as it heads into mid-term

The column below has beeb reproduced from the GUARDIAN with the permission of the author, Dr Hamid Ghany.

Now that the collective wish of so many in the society has been granted through the resignations of Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and Deputy Commissioner Jack Ewatski, one expects that we can now move resolutely to contain the crime problem in this country.

Gibbs and Ewatski were hired through a process that was created by the Manning administration which involved the services of Penn State University for the selection our Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of Police. We faithfully complied with the process and the parliamentary votes to appoint Gibbs and Ewatski in 2010 brought the process to a completion as provided in the amendment of the constitution.

From the time Gibbs and Ewatski arrived there were some who had problems with them because they were caucasian foreigners. That was not hidden and the society was able to wrestle through this controversy, like so many others in its past, where race and colour are concerned. It was certainly not pretty.

Now the way is clear for a local Commissioner of Police to lead the charge against the crime problems of our society. Stephen Williams was chosen the first time out of the Penn State process and was denied by the PNM majority in a parliamentary vote when they held power. 

They never gave a proper reason and the Hansard record of the debate shows where some PNM Members of Parliament in the then Government even questioned Stephen Williams’ ability to become Commissioner of Police.

We have played politics with our crime problem for a very long time to our detriment. There is now a requirement of a vote in the House of Representatives to confirm the nomination of a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners made by the Police Service Commission. 

Stephen Williams now gets to act in the position of Commissioner of Police which he ought to have held since before this Government came to power.

There is no doubt that the new Minister of National Security, Jack Warner, was at odds with Commissioner Gibbs on the closure of police stations and the 21st century police initiative. There should be no illusions about the fact that the working relationship between Warner and Gibbs was going to be difficult. One can only hope for the benefit of the country that the team of Warner and Williams will be able to turn around the crime situation as we move forward. 

The critics who were opposed to caucasian foreigners being in charge of the Police Service will now have a clear passageway to support the team of Warner and Williams as the charge against the criminals takes on a new dimension.

Warner has already made it clear that he intends to take firm measures to deal with our crime problem and with a local commissioner—whether acting or confirmed—one can only hope that we can contain crime. 

Warner’s comments about restoring the Flying Squad of the 1970s and his personal desire to be more actively involved than previous Ministers of National Security in the virtual line of fire in the battle against crime has drawn its own criticisms already.

Crime is an equal opportunity scourge and its sources lie in many quarters, both domestic and international. The Scott Drug Report laid out for us how we came to belong to an international ring of drugs and illicit activities. The Scotland Yard Report highlighted the extent to which a part of the problem lay inside the Police Service. As with Gibbs and Ewatski, the issue of bringing in retired caucasian foreigners from Scotland Yard was also a problem back then.

There is nothing wrong with the total local approach in the same way that there is nothing wrong with foreigners coming into our protective services. The problem arises when we seek to use race and xenophobia as criteria for selection and judging performance.

Penn State University, who have the key role to play in the selection of our Commissioners of Police based on the reforms introduced by the Manning administration, will not take those criteria into account in choosing a Police Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner for us. 

We may very well have the same issue of foreigners arising once more after the hiring process is completed seeing that Stephen Williams has only been appointed to act as Commissioner of Police until the end of January next year.

One gets the impression that the People’s Partnership Government is looking at putting teams in place to address two of its most pressing problems at mid-term. The economy and crime will be issues by which they will be judged at the end of their term.

As it stands now, it appears that the teams of Howai and Rambarran on the economy and Warner and Williams on crime appear to be where this Government is prepared to place its confidence for turning around the fortunes in these two areas. 

With three years to go before a general election ought to be held, it appears that the People’s Partnership is about to make its next move.