Singh: Chaotic, shambolic mess

CHAGUANAS West MP Ganga Singh on Monday accused Government of leaving a country “ravaged and savaged” by crime, without a permanent Commissioner of Police (CoP).

He made this accusation while responding to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during debate on a motion in the House of Representatives to approve the nomination of Acting Deputy Police Commissioner (DCP) Harold Phillip as CoP.

Singh claimed government created a “chaotic and shambolic mess”, when it initially announced it would not deal with Phillip’s nomination last Friday. The only reason why Monday’s debate happened, Singh continued, was because of “the intervention of the Opposition protecting the Constitution. According to Singh, “The revisionist approach of the Prime Minister to follow the law, flies in the face of the fact of what transpired in the House on the last occasion.”

Quoting excerpts of the unrevised Hansard of last Friday’s sitting, Singh said there were differences between what Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis said then and what Rowley said on Monday.

Referring to the Standing Orders, Singh claimed Robinson-Regis was “anointing herself with power she does not possess.” He described Government MPs as “plasticine patriots.”

Noting Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young often slams the Opposition for being unpatriotic, Singh countered that government MPs “allow the Constitution to become malleable at the altar of political expediency.”

He said Phillip’s name was never mentioned last Friday when Robinson-Regis spoke about a new nomination for CoP. “If you were not paying attention, you would never know that this was a new notification.”

While government was well within its right to reject Phillip’s nomination, Singh said, “You have to go through the process of rejecting Harold Phillip.” Singh also said the Police Service Commission cannot restart the selection process, until all names on the merit list are exhausted. This process could take a year.

He said there was good reason for replacing the prime minister’s veto was replaced by the current process. Grenada’s Mongoose Gang and Haiti’s Ton Ton Macoutes, Singh continued, are examples of Caribbean leaders turning the police into private political armies.