Imbert: Panday wanted PSC to go

SCIENCE, Technology and Tertiary Education Minister Colm Imbert claimed that when Basdeo Panday was Prime Minister he was the biggest advocate for the Police Service Commission’s (PSC) removal and shared former President Sir Ellis Clarke’s view that the PSC has not served its function. Speaking during debate on the Police Reform Bills in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Imbert said: “Once you give the PSC, as the present law allows, the power to delegate, they also have the power to remove the delegation. You are subject to the whims and fancies of the members of the commission. There is nothing you can do about it because the current Constitution allows them to do that. “That is what has happened in this country for the last 40 years. As a result, the entire system is inefficient. That is what the Member for Couva North laid in this Parliament in 2001. That is what we deliberated on with the bipartisan team for two years. That is what he decided. He decided that this (Police Reform Bills) was necessary. It (PSC) wasn’t working.” 

The Minister said it was sheer hypocrisy that Panday could now do an about face on this issue, particularly when a former Police Commissioner (now a senior UNC member) told Panday he was rendered a “toothless bulldog” because of the PSC’s deficiencies. “How could this legislation take us to a police state. It’s impossible!” Imbert declared. Imbert criticised Panday for saying the population was “excited” about debate on the Police Bills and ready to get involved in the debate. “What about people who are the victims of crime? Are they excited? Could they wait three years while the Opposition procrastinates?” he asked. Reiterating that the proposed Police Management Authority had all the necessary safeguards to prevent abuse of power, Imbert said the UNC’s claims on this score effectively meant they were opposed to the type of  bipartisanship which Panday saw necessary to ensure the Police Service was properly managed. The Minister added that all of the world’s successful police forces were organisations in which the Police Commissioner had full authority to manage the resources at his disposal.