Dear Editor,
I was a member of the Guyana Police Force (1987-1995) serving most of my tenure as an instructor both at Eve Leary and the Felix Austin Police College (FAPC) at Adventure on the Corentyne.
Amongst those I trained at FAPC Adventure were Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine and Former Senior Superintendent Simon McBean. The reason I am highlighting these two gentlemen is due to the utterings (or mutterings) of the immediate past Minister of Home Affairs. Their cases of injustice rankle deep in me.
Mr Ramnarine ran afoul of this former minister when he made it known that contrary to what the former minister said, he (Ramnarine) had not received money to feed the policemen and women under his command during the 2011 elections. For his contradiction of the former minister, he was banished to the Department of Research and Planning which was meant to punish him. After his transfer to this department, I visited him and we had a very frank discussion which I will not reveal here for I have not sought his permission to do so. Let it suffice that he was not a happy man. The DRP is a place for a much more junior officer.
I don’t know how long he languished there, for we lost contact, but in my opinion regardless of the length of time it had to have been stressful for him. After hearing that he was elevated to the post of Assistant Commissioner, Operations earlier in 2015, I felt happy for him for I knew that he was now being utilized fully, and his spirits would be lifted by recognizing that. Then came the Grinch with his spiteful utterings.
Mr Simon’s case is a bit more technical. He won the prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 2009 to pursue a Master’s Degree in England, and had requested to be paid while doing so. This was denied but as he had outstanding vacation leave he applied for same and used the time to commence his programme. Sometime near the end of his vacation leave, he became ill. He submitted the requisite sick leave certificates and allegedly kept communicating with his superiors. Subsequent to his return to duty, he was dismissed.
Now, here is a young policeman who would have been the only serving officer at the time to acquire a Master’s Degree being dismissed because he dared to stand up legally (he followed all the rules) to the hierarchy of the Force which wanted to deny his right to pursue higher education. Henry Greene was Commissioner at the time. This caused the Force to be robbed of the chance to employ this more highly qualified officer’s skills in furthering development within the Force. And who was the Minister at the time? Now the talent of Mr McBean may be lost to the country, for he has taken his knowledge elsewhere.
One senior officer was quoted as saying that Mr McBean was treated differently from other police officers who were paid as they studied (KN of May 30th, 2013 refers).
Yours faithfully,
John London
