COP seeks to clarify stance on CoP

UPDATE:

CONGRESS of the People (COP) political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan had to field questions about the party’s position on Gary Griffith’s appointment as Commissioner of Police at the party’s general council meeting at its Edinburgh village, Chaguanas, headquarters on Monday evening.

Griffith was a member of the COP. The meeting was streamed live on Facebook. Seepersad-Bachan said the issue surrounding Griffith was not about personality but principle, and repeated that people who are politically neutral would be better able to engender confidence in the population.

“This matter is not about personality, and we must learn if we have to become a progressive country, we must be able to debate isssues with less emotion.”

During the interactive session, one member asked whether the party was attacking Griffith.
Seepersad-Bachan said crime-fighting is “everyone’s business” and the COP “would support any crime-fighting initiative that would redound to the benefit of the people of TT. “It is not in the best interest of the Congress of the People for the incoming commissioner of police to fail,” she said.

“In fact we would like for the commissioner of police to succeed.” She said she was on public record as speaking to the several positive attributes of Gary Griffith. “I recall when we worked on the crime plan in 2007, I had the opportunity when working with him to observe first-hand his passion and his ideas for crime-fighting.”

However, she said people holding independent office should not be politically aligned. Seepersad-Bachan said while there were no constitutional provisions debarring people with political affiliations from participating or becoming office-holders in independent offices, the tradition was one of neutrality.

“And the reason for that is because we want to be able to attract and engender the confidence of all the citizens of TT and to avoid marginalisation of any section of society.”
She said, however, Griffith must be given a “clean slate” before taking up his appointment and once again called on the Prime Minister to clear the air on the identity of the national security minister referred to by a whistle-blower in the UK House of Commons in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

One member asked why the party had not applied the same ruling to former member Gillian Lucky when she was appointed a High Court judge.
COP chairman Jamieson Bahadur said Lucky had resigned in 2008, long before her appointment.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Congress of the People (COP) political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan had to field questions about the party’s position on Gary Griffith’s appointment as Commissioner of Police at the party's general council meeting at its Edinburgh village, Chaguanas, headquarters on Monday evening.

Griffith was a member of the COP.

The meeting was streamed live on Facebook.

Seepersad-Bachan said the issue surrounding Griffith was not about personality but principle, and repeated that people who are politically neutral would be better able to engender confidence in the population.

“This matter is not about personality , and we must learn if we have to become a progressive country, we must be able to debate isssues with less emotion.”