National Security Charlatans

Admittedly, my knowledge in the field is nowhere close to the likes of Professor Ramesh Deosaran and Renee Cummings, but I know enough to appreciate the fact that these two people have the understanding, expertise and ideas to help cure Trinidad and Tobago’s crime epidemic.

Unfortunately, the aloof, vote-seeking, self-serving political parties have yet to realise this, to the country’s demise. So, instead, the cavalier approach has been to ignore the advice of the experts in the field and appoint successive charlatans to serve as Ministers of National Security (MoNS). In case you’re not familiar with the term, a charlatan is a ‘quack’, or if you want the extended version: it’s a person who claims to have more knowledge or skill than s/he actually possesses.

And if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you probably just accurately identified several others in government and very high-profile positions all across the country who fit snuggly into that definition.

Nevertheless, we continue the same failed trend of military men who rose through the ranks based, not on performance, but years of service and age. Suffice it to say, the only thing any former military person in Trinbago could bring to the table of crime fighting is stripes on a shirt, nothing else.

When we gained independence in 1962, the Ministry of Home Affairs was created with the mandate for the national security of the country. An intelligent medical doctor by the name of Patrick Solomon - a close confidante of Dr Eric Williams and possibly his right-hand man leading up to independence – was appointed as the first Minister of that Ministry.

After a scandal involving a family member’s arrest and detention at the Woodbrook Police Station, Dr Solomon ‘resigned’ and was replaced by a well-known businessman who later retired in 1970. That same year, ‘Home Affairs’ became ‘National Security’ and Prime Minister Williams became the country’s first MoNS, a role he shared with his eventual successor, George Chambers.

MoNS appointments after this were businessmen, lawyers and an economist. Then, when former Attorney General, Selwyn Richardson jumped ship, and after the PNM lost the 1981 general election, he became the first MoNS with an actual background in the field. However, after his assassination and the PNM regaining control of the government, MoNS appointments were back to what they were in Williams’ days. It was not until Basdeo Panday became Prime Minister did the government look to the defence force for a MoNS. At the time, the appointment of Brigadier General Joseph Theodore seemed to be quite perceptive because there was a steady decline of a murder rate that had escalated after the attempted coup in 1990.

Needless to say, Theodore was the last of the Mohicans, or dare I say, the last of a dying breed of a few good men – all puns and movie references intended.

After the UNC was ousted, the PNM stuck to its guns in regards to MoNS appointments with the same failed results, and then when the UNC ’s PP came into power in 2010, we had five MoNS in as many years. It was a like five-a-side football team with five players on the bench and a mentality that everyone had to “geh ah sweat”. True to form, the UNC ’s PP also followed party precedent and selected Brigadier John Sandy. Next, it was Jack Warner’s turn until Emmanuel George got his ‘corbeau-sweat’ (pronounced ‘cobo’).

Then the King of Charlatans took centre stage. Despite being fired for his evident incompetence (murders were over 400), Gary Griffith has remained front and centre, becoming everyone’s go-to guy on national security matters. I see him at every football match and I have even heard people like my own “PNM-‘tilah- dead” mother talk about Dr Rowley giving him a second chance to serve as MoNS, but I’ve already relegated that misguided opinion to too much ponche-decr?me.

Brigadier Carl Alfonso didn’t have much time to really make a mark, but from what we saw, it was going to be more of the same.

Surely, we’ve learnt from our mistakes. Well, kind of. Prime Minister Rowley realised that the PNM’s appointment of lawyers and businessmen weren’t MoNS quality, so he took a page out of the UNC playbook and brought in retired Major General Edmund Dillon, the highest ranking of them all. With a murder rate that could hit 450 by the end of the year, and not a single sensible crime-fighting plan on the table, the curse of the MoNS charlatan is upon us once again. And when Dillon eventually gets fired, the media will n o - d o u b t bring us the King’s wisdom: “joining us now via telephone is former MoNS...”