Even though I am a relative dinosaur, still not (idiot -) friendly with computers, I welcome the few, but pointed, responses to last Friday’s offering: ‘Inside GuySuCo, today’s ideal police commissioner’. Some of the comments inspire my sub-theme on integrity.
Integrity, in short supply
Last Friday I wondered whether we could discover a (new) commissioner of police who has verifiable unimpeachable integrity. (I received a few comments.)
Integrity refers to a code, most likely personal, of conduct and values sustained for most of one’s life. Many of us, despite moral religious, “cultured” upbringing, frequently fall short of the standards we bother to set. So imagine the integrity required of the leaders of our society. They are human too but when they aspire to lead, manage and administer, they accept responsibility for honesty, legality incorruptibility.
So in your spare time, dear citizen, make a list of Guyana’s top leaders then attempt to assess their character, their integrity. Some national categories may include (leaders in) the Cabinet of Ministers, the government, members of parliament, CEOs of state entities, contractors, corporate heads, in agriculture, health, education, sport, church, the 10 regions, the justice system. What type of leaders do we have?
Commissioner Winston Felix (Retired)
Integrity seems to be demanded, moreso, from and in our top crime fighters, our police commissioners. Eight years ago Winston Felix was our top cop. (He is now a parliamentarian.) The government ensured that he had a torrid time during the murderous crime wave. Former minister Gail Teixeira had reportedly claimed to know of Felix’s “relationships”. Former minister Ronald Gajraj had reportedly asked Felix to buy weapons for the Force from abroad. Felix had ventured into troubled Buxton, then a tape-recording surfaced allegedly featuring the then commissioner’s voice saying things to implicate him.
What’s my point? Police commissioners should be impeccable in behaviour but are expected to be savvy about criminality, in order to lessen it.
So read the then commissioner Felix in April 2006: “The force will view very seriously deliberate acts of threat or intimidation by those purporting to represent political postures which may cause anxiety or fear among citizens, legal residents and visitors,” during election campaigns.
Then this: “The joint services’ actions against drug trafficking, money-laundering and weapons proliferation is aimed at ensuring the management of the state remains in the hands of democratic institutions rather than in the hands of drug lords and cartels!”
Assess that declaration of Winston Felix then, dear citizens. What’s the score today?
Consider …
*1) One-time PPP presidential aspirant Ralph Ramkarran quoted a “comrade” after the 2011 polls. He allegedly told Bharrat Jagdeo that “it was your mansion and pension that caused the loss.”
*2) Why is it that when I think of former presidents’ pension, I get depressed thinking about my own and that of all of us over 65?
*3) Find two reasons why our Members of Parliament are described as “Honourable”.
Til next week!
(Comments? allanafenty@yahoo.com)
