I am proud to have been a soldier

GARY GRIFFITH

KEITH ROWLEY recently made a statement on a platform, displaying an unstable meltdown in his usual bitter and hostile manner. He remarked, "Gary Griffith was also a soldier but never says that."

To educate Rowley: Being in the military is considered one of the most noble professions. Soldiers take an oath to sacrifice their lives for their country and its citizens, if required. It also prepares you for leadership at other levels after leaving the military. The US, for example, had 45 presidents, and 31 of them had prior military service. None were geologists.

To further educate Rowley: The present CoP in Jamaica was also "a soldier," and to be police commissioner in the NYPD, you must not be a serving police officer, so me being appointed CoP was nothing new.

So, in contrast to the misleading and mischievous comment by Rowley, please note, I am proud to have served in the military for 17 years, being trained and graduated at one of the best military academies in the world, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where many go not just to lead troops into battle, but also to lead and serve a nation after their tour of duty.

I am also proud to have been:

* One of the youngest military officers to serve our country during the attempted coup.

* The first TT soldier to return home with a UN peacekeeping medal.

* The only military officer to serve a president and a prime minister directly. And to acquire a medal for unblemished military service from the president.

I do not think, Keith, that you acquired anything like this when you were educated to investigate and understand the texture of rocks, to prepare you to be a politician and to lead a country.

So, I am indeed proud to state that my military background also laid the foundation for me serving my country at other levels outside of the military, inclusive of being a security minister and a police commissioner. Rowley's foolish comment about him "giving me a chance" shows his arrogance and ignorance, as I earned my position as CoP because I acquired the most points in the several assessments for all who applied for that post in 2018 and again in 2021.

It was me being a previous soldier that assisted my measured success in those positions, which included:

* The highest reduction in serious crime in 30 years and violent crime in 17 years.

* Increasing public confidence in the TTPS from 14 per cent to 59 per cent.

* Eighty-nine per cent of the public when polled wanted me to remain as CoP or had no issue with me in that post.

* Crime dropping to the number four concern in the country, behind health, education and the economy.

Rowley sees all of that as "spectacular failure." In contrast, one year after my departure we have experienced the highest crime rate in our history, crime has become the number one concern, and public confidence in the TTPS has dropped from 59 per cent to eight per cent. So, if what I achieved was "a spectacular failure," how would Rowley describe those who replaced me, as well as his present National Security Minister, who does not even know his role and function.

Keith, it is amazing that you deem my performance as a failure, yet:

* You scolded your Cabinet colleagues, saying you wished you had ten Gary Griffiths to help you fix this country.

* You shouted at your AG to amend the law to ensure that I remain to act as CoP because I had no intention to return, as I never put a renewal clause in my contract.

* You put me as your centrefold poster boy in your PNM manifesto to boast of my achievements as CoP – to beg citizens to return you to office, because of that.

Sadly, some politicians judge a CoP as a failure if they do not arrest political opponents without any evidence to do so. Maybe, Keith, if you had military service, you would understand that there have been 457 murders by firearms so far this year, and 456 of those have been by illegal firearms, yet you and your "minister of national insecurity" spend all your time on wasted fishing expeditions that have borne no fruit to deal with legal firearms which have been instrumental to save dozens of lives.

Your comments then, Keith, make you sound very unstable, as you are making comments not based on polls, data and fact, but instead based on anger and bitterness, which is not a good sign for someone leading a country, as one should not make decisions based on erratic emotion.

So, Keith, I am indeed proud to have served the military, as it prepared me to serve my country in different ways, both as security minister and as police commissioner, with more to come. Your training, Keith, was to examine the texture of rocks to ascertain whether they are igneous or metamorphic. This is what prepared you to be a prime minister and the results are showing.