Deputy Commissioner Nigel Hoppie is currently acting as the country’s Top Cop as the leadership of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has seen another shake-up due to two of its most senior members proceeding on pre-retirement leave.
Sources within the force confirmed to Stabroek News that the shake-up was done in an effort to fill the gap left by Commissioner of Police Leslie James and Deputy Commissioner Maxine Graham, who have proceeded on their accumulated leave ahead of their respective retirements.
James proceeded on his leave sometime last week, while Graham proceeded on leave yesterday, sources said.
Early last month, then president David Granger had said that James and Graham did not proceed on their leave as they were tasked with overseeing the already planned operations for the March 2nd general and regional elections.
“We are in a very abnormal period of Guyana’s history and the Commissioner of Police was required to supervise a special operation to ensure there was no disturbance of the peace, [that] there was no disorder during the elections period and that is the reason why he is still at his post,” Granger had said in response to questions about why they were still on the job. “As you know, on Friday, sixth of March, there was violence in Region number Five and police had to be deployed. So there was a specific operation which had been planned for that election period and Commissioner Leslie James was required to remain at his post, but the leave that is due will be taken later. It is an administrative decision, not a decision about on any other legal or operational basis but an administrative decision to allow him to supervise the conduct of that operation,” he added.
Granger’s position was echoed by former Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, who said these were special circumstances and that the Guyana Police Force wanted to maintain its planned security operations for the elections period, which has been tense and has seen emotions running high in the past. “We want to ensure the police’s operations continue…operations for security and maintenance of the law be maintained,” Ramjattan said.
James was appointed Commissioner of Police in August, 2018.
While Hoppie is now heading the force, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken will replace Graham.
In January of this year, Hicken along with Senior Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh were seconded to positions outside of the force.
Hicken had been posted at the Ministry of Presidency, Department of Citizenship while Karimbaksh was posted to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).
Former Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix had subsequently said that Hicken would be tasked with doing an assessment of the Venezuelan migrant population in regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.
Prior to their secondments, both ranks were stationed at the Force Training Centre. Hicken had headed the centre, while Karimbaksh was the deputy.
