Promotions are not given as a golden handshake - Rohee

Promotions are not given as a golden handshake – Rohee

Mar 17, 2014 News

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee says that it is not true that senior officers are being promoted on the eve of their retirement so that they can benefit from a lucrative pension is not true.

Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee

Rohee in a public missive last week said “I don’t think they got the promotion because they were retiring. Promotions are not given as a golden hand shake, promotions are given on the basis of merit and years of experience on the Force. So while it might appear that these promotions come just on the eve of a person’s retirement, it ought not to be seen as a golden handshake to go off with a good pension, not at all.”
Rohee agreed that there weren’t many promotions taking place for quite some time (over three years) and expressed that “this is because, especially at the officers level and at the Cadet level, these promotions have to be considered by the Police Service Commission [PSC] and that’s an issue right now that remains outstanding but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t recommendations awaiting the consideration of the PSC.”
The Home Affairs Minister had previously spoken on the PSC where he expressed that because of the absence of that body, the promotions of the officers were stymied, much to the detriment of the officers within the Force who have been patiently waiting to move up the ranks.
This newspaper has been making repeated enquiries about the establishment of the PSC but the responses have been less than satisfactory from senior government officials who are directly or indirectly responsible.
Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon had indicated a while back at one of his press conferences that the administration was looking at the establishment of several Commissions, the PSC being one of them.
Police Officers are hoping the current situation is addressed quickly, but there appears to be no urgency on the part of the administration to deal with the issue.
The last Commission was chaired by Dennis Morgan who died in November 2012 while serving in that capacity.
The Police Service Commission, a five-man body, was then rendered inactive. Some ranks have been stagnant in one position for long periods, some for as long as 20 years without promotion.
It was explained that some ranks have pending disciplinary matters that are hampering their advancement but of even greater concern is the stagnation of more than 40 Cadet Officers.
Recently, outgoing Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell announced the promotion of a few junior ranks, which caused mixed reactions among those who are still waiting to be promoted.