Police top brass take umbrage at Rohee’s ‘kick ass’ statement

Officers and ranks of the Guyana Police Force have taken umbrage to recent statements made by

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, fueling a potential crisis in the relationship between the two entities.
Senior officers of the force have expressed a loss of confidence in the Minister over his recent remarks that he intends to “kick ass” during his new term as the political head of the country’s law enforcement agencies.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that both The Association of Police Officers and the Police Association intend to respond in writing to the Minister.
Last Sunday, Rohee, who was reappointed Home Affairs Minister following the November elections, told a gathering that included mainly members of Community Policing Groups that he has learnt a lot from his first term which began in 2006.
He stated that his first term as Home Affairs Minister was more or less a feeling-out process.
“These five years, I intend to kick ass…to put it bluntly…because I know people waiting outside there to kick my ass,” the Home Affairs Minister stated.
He had issued a stern warning which was directly pointed at the Guyana Police Force.
“The police haven’t really seen me get upset as yet, but in this new term I intend to get upset…because after this new term, that’s it for me,” Rohee declared emphatically.
Senior police officials have confirmed that the Minister’s comments came up for discussion at last Wednesday’s Force administration meeting, with many of the officers present expressing their disappointment at the minister’s “uncalled for” outbursts.
“We met yesterday and we were all perturbed about the Minister’s statements. For years, policemen have been putting their lives on the line to ensure that there is peace, although we are underpaid. And this tongue-lashing from the minister using indecent language is uncalled for,” one angry officer told this newspaper.
Another officer when contacted by Kaieteur News confirmed the concerns and added that for someone who should be defending the Guyana Police Force, the Minister was “out of order” and officers have every reason to “lose confidence in him”.
The officers claimed that there are several agencies that fall under the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, yet the Minister chose to single out the Guyana Police Force for attack.
The officers said that the first sign that Minister Rohee was becoming hostile towards them was when he distanced himself and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Force for the shooting of protestors following the November General Elections.
Further signs of a crisis developed when he was accused by outspoken Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine of interfering in the operations of the Guyana Police Force.
Following Ramnarine’s accusations, Rohee had written to Commissioner of Police (ag) Leroy Brumell requesting that disciplinary action be taken against Ramnarine, since he had lost confidence in the officer, a request that Brumell complied with.
Rohee also recently came under fire from former Commissioner of Police and now A Partnership for National Unity Member of Parliament Winston Felix.  The former head of the Force drew specific reference to an incident that had featured prominently in the media.
Felix reminded of one incident on November 28, 2011, when he overheard a police radio transmission where ranks were being instructed “not to arrest” or touch a “known OP Miscreant” or they would face prosecution.