Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee yesterday defended the appointment of Patrick Mentore to the Strategic Management Department to oversee police reforms although his name was recently mentioned in relation to a US visa racket.
When Mentore was asked about this by Stabroek News in June his answer was that these allegations about him were raised since 2001 and he had dealt with them.
He said that no attention should be paid to the allegations in a book written by a US citizen alleging wrong-doing on his part and the focus should instead be on whether he could perform the role to which he was appointed.
Rohee yesterday noted that Mentore, a former police officer was selected by an interview panel.
Mentore was an officer in the Public Affairs Department of the United States Embassy at the same time a major visa scandal was unraveled, the details of which were chronicled in a book written by US Professor David Casavis: the Thomas Carroll Affair. In the book Casavis talks about the scam that emanated from the US Embassy in Guyana. The scam had been engineered by an American employee; Thomas Carroll.
Yesterday Rohee said that the accounts in Casavis’s book were not sufficient to render Mentore unsuitable for the job he now holds, and also refuted claims that he had anything to with his (Mentore’s) appointment. He also voiced his “full confidence” in the persons who are part of the Strategic Management Department since they were selected in a transparent manner by a panel of professionals in the area of security.
Mentore, a former police officer, was employed by the US Embassy but was let go in 2001. He said that at no time did he hide the fact that he worked with the US Embassy and when asked if he was eventually relieved of his duties he replied in the affirmative.
He said what is important is that he never committed an offence against the laws of Guyana.
As the head of the SMD, which has 10 civilian employees and is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the force’s strategic plan, Mentore and his team a
re expected to work alongside members of the force in addressing the key strategic priorities laid out in the plan.
The SMD is expected to help optimize the collective performance of the force guiding it towards significant organizational renewal and change.
