Former Commissioner of Police Felix failed the security sector …now serves as APNU M.P. |
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Tuesday, 29 January 2013 22:19 |
FORMER Commissioner of Police, now APNU Member of Parliament, Winston Felix, may have sabotaged efforts at police reform as he pursued an agenda against the success of the PPP/C Administration. Several senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force say they felt betrayed by Felix, given the fact that he chose to oppose efforts aimed at reforming t he security sector with the aim of improving its crime fighting capacity and responsiveness. The feelings of betrayal and discord came as ranks who spoke to the Guyana Chronicle, under promise of anonymity, noted his continued posture on the issue of reforming the force, despite the fact that he was a long-standing member of the institution. “I disagree with Felix and the APNU. I believe that his political involvement at a national level has clouded his ability to provide any independent leadership or oversight of the security sector”, a senior police rank opined. The rank said that “Felix went at lengths to find faults and shortcomings with the recommendations made by the government and Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, but could not try to, at least, support aspects of the proposed reforms that were good for the force and its ranks. This is selfish and not becoming of a former independent member of the police force. It’s shameful”, the rank stated vehemently. Another senior rank said that he was “not surprised by the move” and position taken by Felix to deny the force any form of improvement, given his track record in office and the bare truth that crime escalated under his watch. The rank reminded the Guyana Chronicle that Felix still has not managed to give any realistic and believable explanation for the reasons why a wanted man or drug lord would call a sitting Police Commissioner “a good” friend. In a full page ad paid for by now convicted drug trafficker and phantom squad boss, Roger Khan, admitted that he was a close friend of then Commissioner of Police Winston Felix. Felix is now on the opposition APNU's platform and is also their spokesperson on security issues. Khan had committed himself to stand before a Commission of Inquiry to answer any questions about his relationship with the former Police Commissioner, while asking if the police official was prepared to do the same or even undergo a polygraph test, the senior rank recounted. “It’s a disgrace that Felix would now seek to deprive the ranks of the Guyana Police Force the opportunities announced by Minister Rohee, as he pursues the APNU’s selfish political agenda”, that rank argued. Several other officers have also been expressing their reservations about the reasoning offered by the former embattled Police Commissioner who was also fingered and recorded as having conversations with PNC/R MP and Executive Member, Basil Williams about several questionable activities at a time when the country was under duress. “We must not forget the opposition’s role in Buxton, their glorification of criminals, Felix’s dancing over solving crimes and moving against suspicious elements aligned to his opposition comrades who declared the criminals were “freedom fighters”. It was the late Desmond Hoyte who told the criminals to “keep up” the pressure and the band of the opposition who worked with criminal elements, hoping they would succeed in destabilizing the government. Felix tries to use the absence of inquiry to cloud his role in the opposition crime plan, his actions and inactions. What Felix knows, he should say, truthfully and quickly. What did he mean when he said in the taped conversation, he “diverted them.’’ I know history has already recorded Felix as the worst possible police commissioner”, another letter writer noted in a previous submission to this publication. The feeling of betrayal by ranks of the Police Force also came against the backdrop of concerns that were raised by former Home Affairs Minister, Gail Texiera, about Felix’s comfort while in office and no action on several issues. The former Home Affairs Minister had accused former commissioner, Felix of failing to control the crime spree during his tenure at the helm of the Guyana Police Force, saying he was diverted by a very narrow focus on now convicted drug lord Roger Khan. “…I am convinced, as the minister then, that we had enough to be able to get on top of that crime situation to save lives, but we were not able to do it because it appears now…that the Commissioner of Police…had diverted his attention in a very narrow direction”, she argued.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 22:21 |