AFC slams Rohee’s persecution of Ramnarine

Mar 22, 2012 News

…says Constitution bars Ministerial interference

The Constitution bars any Minister from interfering in the performance of the functions of Public Officers and therefore Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, should stop persecuting Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine.
This is according to Khemraj Ramjattan, the Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), which is in full support of Ramnarine’s decision to speak out on the $90M election related allocation which has since sparked a furor on the part of the administration.
“It is important that the Constitution has provisions in it whereby every public officer, who includes an Assistant Commissioner, must speak the truth and moreover no Minister should influence him,” said Ramjattan.
“What we have here is the Minister intimidating Ramnarine and persecuting him for bringing out facts that the Minister doesn’t like…its terrible,” he added.
Minister Rohee has called for the acting Police Commissioner, Leroy Brummel, to discipline Ramnarine for breaching the Police Standing Orders regarding disclosures and classified information, saying that his decision to speak out is unpardonable.
“The Standing Orders are inferior to the Constitutional provisions (of freedom of expression) and nobody can influence Ramnarine in his decision and his thought process,” Ramjattan stated.
“Otherwise every Policeman will then have to go hear what the Minister says before they investigate…it is wholly atrocious,” he reasoned.
In a letter to the press, Ramnarine maintained that his failure to disclose a cheque should not be perceived as an intention to cover for any malpractice by him or anyone who worked with me during that challenging period.
“This meager sum was grossly inadequate and by its infinitesimal nature, taken in the context of several millions of dollars, which should have been given, was regarded with much distaste as having had no major impact on the situation and maybe that is why I happened to sign it several days after, realizing that I had other monies available. In short; I kept focusing on the forest and lost sight of the trees,” Ramnarine stated.
Ramnarine said that he is more disappointed that the more than $1.5M which he received through donations from miners and businessmen was spent on election duties, “now realizing that the greater portion of the huge sum of $90M was allocated to cover such activity.”
Ramnarine said that he did not agree that the information was classified “and in fact the media, a key stake holder in society plays an important role in holding us all to account.”
He said that in any democratic society it is more, rather than often, through relentless quizzing and unfettered criticism that such democracy is kept in check.
“In the extant case, the criticisms were constructive and led to exposing of a grave issue. For sure, if left to some officials, this matter would be handled in the same contumely manner in the future.”

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AFC slams Rohee’s persecution of Ramnarine

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