Benjamin in charge – Parliament approves new acting CoP, DCP

AND RISHARD KHAN

JUNIOR Benjamin has been approved by Parliament to become TT’s next acting Commissioner of Police (CoP).

The House of Representatives unanimously approved a government motion for DCP Benjamin to be acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) and ACP Curt Simon to become an acting DCP on February 5. The debate lasted less than 90 minutes for both motions.

This short debate belied the many days of headline news generated by actions which preceded it, that is, the suspension of CoP Erla Harewood-Christopher amid a police probe into the import of two sniper rifles for the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).

The Prime Minister moved both motions.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal responded for the Opposition in the debate on Benjamin, and Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein to the motion on Simon. Each time the Speaker put a motion to MPs, she also asked “Any against?” to which the Opposition stayed silent.

While the House sat, attorneys for Harewood-Christopher initiated legal action in the High Court in Port of Spain after the Police Service Commission (PSC) did not meet a February 4 deadline set by senior counsel Pamela Elder to reinstate her client, in a pre-action protocol letter to PSC head Dr Wendell Wallace. Harewood-Christopher has not been charged with any criminal offence nor put under disciplinary action, but ordered not to report for work or discharge her duties.

Rowley repeatedly said the Government was acting impartially in the motions in Parliament. However Moonilal said the Harewood-Christopher imbroglio had only arisen after the Government had given her two extensions to her initial tenure as CoP.

Moving the first motion, Rowley said the Government wished it did not have the responsibility to bring the motions, but it could not make its own path.

Reading the PSC letter to the President recommending Benjamin act as CoP, he said the decision had been made by the PSC.

“I think this is a good point as head of the Government to make it pellucidly clear that this operation has absolutely nothing to do with the Government.”

He said the Government was a separate operating entity to the PSC, police and Office of President.

“I was making the point that a police investigation has absolutely nothing to do with the Government – not knowledge, not consent, not operation, not responsibility – because we all know, in this House and in the minds of people who have been commenting on this matter, that the Government of TT has no role whatsoever in directing the police as to who they should go after, who they should investigate, how the investigation should go, how they should arrest or not arrest.”

Rowley said the police told the PSC of its operations and the PSC told the President of a vacancy in the CoP position, after which MPs were notified of a nomination for acting CoP.

“We are called to fill the vacancy.”

He said Benjamin’s CV was well-known as he had recently been discussed in his appointment as DCP, and the Government had no new information on him.

Rowley said the Government was in an unenviable position, as a vote against Benjamin could be seen as unfair, while a positive vote might let critics allege that “the Government wants this.” The PM said. “I am required to act blindly.”

Moonilal: Distressing time for TT, police

Moonilal said recent days had been a “disturbing, painful, anxious and distressing” time for TT and the police.

He asked if there now truly existed a vacancy in the police service to be filled.

Moonilal said the PSC regulations said a vacancy arose only where a CoP was absent from the country, on vacation, or unable to do her duties owing to illness or any other reason. He asked if there was a proper vacancy, based on the PSC’s own guidelines.

Of the Prime Minister distancing his Government from the imbroglio, Moonilal recalled a 2022 news headline “It was me,” referring to a meeting with then president Paula-Mae Weekes at her office around the time a CoP order of merit list was withdrawn by the PSC.

At the time, the PSC was in the process of submitting nominations for a new CoP after Gary Griffith’s tenure in the post had come to an end.

Further, he cited a recent news story “PM, Tell me what you know,” about police DCP Suzette Martin reportedly inquiring from Rowley in the current imbroglio. Moonilal said, “The Government is involved. The PM might become part of this investigation.”

He also added, “The incumbent CoP is there not because of the PSC but because of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister. They extended, on two occasions, her tenure.”

Recalling Benjamin’s high-level of professionalism when he appeared before a joint select committee (JSC), Moonilal said he had never been unprofessional, but had always kept his word to provide follow-up information to the committee.

“His CV speaks of a lifelong career in the police service starting in 1989 as a special reserve police.”

He said Benjamin’s task would be to build public trust in the police which he said a survey had put at 15 per cent.

Rowley, in his wind-up, said the matter today was not the same as the matter any other day, in an apparent rejection of Moonilal’s invocation of the 2022 incident.

Referring to the PSC guidelines cited by Moonilal as to when a vacancy arose in the CoP’s post, he said the phrase “any other reason” was a catch-all or omnibus phrase that covered the case of the CoP being under investigation.

He said he had never spoken to the PSC when headed by Judith Jones or Dr Wendell Wallace, but only that under Bliss Seepersad.

Rowley said on this occasion, the police had asked him a question as National Security Council chairman, to which he had got the NSC to find the appropriate answer to send to the police for forwarding to the DPP.

“That is all I have done.”

Challenging Moonilal for saying Harewood-Christopher demitted office without cause, Rowley said there was an ongoing criminal investigation. Recalling Moonilal saying Harewood-Christopher had been “booted under the bus,” Rowley accused him of “inflammatory language,” designed to prompt a public reaction for the Opposition’s benefit.

Simon gets Parliament’s nod for acting DCP

Simon was also approved to act as a DCP without much fuss.

Rowley said, “Mr Simon, who substantively is an assistant commissioner, has before, this house would know because he came before the house before, has acted as deputy commissioner twice and therefore he is known to us and we have adjudicated on him.”

Rowley argued that the power to appoint an acting DCP should be with the PSC and should not need a parliamentary debate, especially if it is someone who had previously served in the role. He said the current system requires Parliament to convene to debate the appointment, even if the person is to act “for one day or one year.”

The PM said, “This is gonna happen over and over again until we do the necessary thing, I won’t say sensible, but necessary thing of allowing the commission to make an acting appointment of an assistant commissioner – especially when that person is somebody who would have been viewed by the house before.”

Hosein said Simon’s resume showed his educational qualifications ranged from an associate degree in Criminal Justice from Costaat to a master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of the West Indies.

He said Simon topped the merit list which involved his seniority and qualifications.

“So we have nothing of concern on this side Madam Speaker to raise against the gentleman.

“I don’t believe he was ever charged, I don’t believe he ever abducted anyone from a foreign jurisdiction. In fact, I don’t believe he ever arrested a Commissioner of Police but Madam Speaker, I think his resume is quite laudable.”

Replying to Rowley, Hosein said this process to name an acting DCP was constitutionally enshrined and required parliamentary scrutiny.

He said it was necessary, also alluding to what the Opposition believed was Rowley’s “interference” which led to the Bliss Seepersad-led PSC’s rescinding of the merit list to then President Paula Mae-Weekes.

Hosein claimed Rowley’s action led to Griffith’s tenure as top cop not being renewed although he was at the top of the list almost five years ago.

In his wind-up, Rowley again defended against the claim, insisting he did not interfere but rather made a report to Seepersad.

“The Prime Minister of TT, as chairman of the National Security Council, is duty-bound, in law as settled by the Privy Council to make available to the PSC any information or pertinent matter which has to do with the remit of the PSC.”