Vasant: Opposition should have voted for Gary

FORMER trade and industry minister Vasant Bharath has described the Opposition party’s failure to support former national security minister Gary Griffith’s candidacy for Commissioner of Police as “regrettable” saying the MP’s should have “put party politics aside” in the fight against crime.

During Monday’s sitting of Parliament, nineteen government MPs voted to approve Griffith’s nomination while 13 Opposition MPs abstained. No one voted against.

In a statement yesterday, Bharath said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not view the debate as important as she did not attend the debate.

“It is regrettable that the legitimate Opposition did not see it fit to be magnanimous in the circumstances, put party politics aside and join hands with the government in our fight against crime.

Indeed the Leader of the Opposition did not even think the debate, its outcome and the repercussions on a population weighted down by the scourge of crime, important enough to be present.

He said the UNC may find themselves on the “other side of public opinion on yet another issue of national importance.”

“If so, history will judge them appropriately.”

And regarding Griffith’s candidacy, he said his former Cabinet colleague is “not only competent and very well qualified but extremely committed to delivering the best policing service to the country.”

“We live in a society that is riddled with crime and corruption at every level with very low standards set, over many decades, by our leaders.

Much of the social decay that is now prevalent is as a direct result of neglect by public officials who, when elected, seek their own parochial interests.”

He said Griffith is “not of that mould” having worked with him in Cabinet and as a member of the National Security Council.

“I am convinced that his professional and no-nonsense approach to his job makes him the ideal candidate for the job. I therefore wholeheartedly support the government of Trinidad and Tobago in its choice of Gary Griffith as CoP.”