CoP Felix Austin was fired by Burnham because he was a professional

Jul 21, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I refer to your article “Police in moves to erase Felix Austin from college’s name” (KN 7-2-22) wherein you quoted from a letter of Paul Slowe, Asst. Com. of Police (Ret’d), for the powers that be to reconsider the decision to rename “Felix Austin Police College” as the “Guyana Police Academy”. Mr. Slowe enumerated some of the sterling contributions of our first Guyanese Commissioner of Police (CoP) Felix Austin, who broke the colonial practice of the role being filled only by Britishers.

Mr. Felix Austin had been appointed to that post on Jan 1, 1967 by the PNC/UF government even though he was not the most senior officer. However, he was succeeded by Mr. Carl Austin (no relation to Felix) just a year later on Jan 10, 1968. And therein lies my homily which is based on a sitting of the National Assembly of Tuesday, 19th September, 1967 in which a Bill intituled: “An Act to prescribe the age for the vacation of office by the holders of certain offices as authorised by the Constitution of Guyana” was introduced by Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.

Up to that point, on the age of retirement of the CoP, Article 107 (3) of the Constitution provided that: “Subject to the provisions of the next following paragraph, the Commissioner of Police shall vacate his office when he attains such age as may be prescribed by Parliament.” What Burnham was proposing was the age of retirement be now fixed at 55 years with a possibility of being extended to 60 years. While this was presented as being an innocuous change, in reality it was a devious ploy to constructively fire CoP Felix Austin and replace him with a more pliable Carl Austin, who would serve until 1973.

It appears from the parliamentary debate, that on his appointment, the 54-year-old Mr. Felix Austin was given a list of policemen who he was supposed to promote but the veteran officer balked. He was then immediately sent at that age on a training course in the US but he maintained his position and the Bill was promptly introduced. During his absence, the Acting CoP Carl Austin made a slew of “on the spot” promotions across the country. In the debate, Burnham denied, of course, that the reason for the Bill was to get rid of Felix Austin and replace him with Carl Felix. But no one was surprised when, three months later, the deed was done.

As Mr. Burnham was fond of saying, “There are many ways to kill a cat.” The callousness of Burnham on his Machiavellian move was exemplified by response to MP Boysie Rankarran, who worried how Felix Austin would earn a living after his long service to the state. Mr. Burnham replied, “Selling panties like Lambert.”
A month ago, I wrote a letter to the press, “Burnham’s firing of Major Sattaur triggered the de-professionalisation of our Disciplined Forces”. Maj Sattaur had been fired in March 1966, and with the axing of CoP Felix Austin in Jan 1968, the deprofessionalisation continued to metastasize into the cancer it is today.

Burnham never forgave those who crossed him. As Mister Slowe stated, “The Police Training School gained the status of a college and was renamed the Felix Austin Police College on August 28, 1987.” This was done by President Hoyte, a year after Mr. Burnham’s demise. Unless we know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it. CoP Felix Austin was fired by Burnham because he was a professional.

Sincerely,
Ravi Dev

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CoP Felix Austin was fired by Burnham because he was a professional

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