Trinidad Express calls for Jack Warner's Resignation
Time to resign,Mr Warner
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| Mr. Jack Warner |
Jack Warner's curious decision to accept responsibility for the New Flying Squad shocker after stoutly denying knowledge of its existence must not be allowed to rest there. He must now resign or just as she acted swiftly in the Collin Partap breathalyser affair, the Prime Minister must not wait and fire him.
In fact, it remains in question whether his new position is an admission of responsibility at all.
A careful reading of Mr Warner's sudden about-turn would reveal his new position to be little more than a formality of taking responsibility for something that has occurred under his watch rather than an admission of direct responsibility which is the issue at stake. All that his statement indicates, therefore, is that someone somewhere down the line may be hung out to dry, leaving the top unscathed and absolved.
It is more than passing strange that Mr Warner did not know that his director of National Security Operations Garvin Heerah was in Argentina last week on official business. And then he said Mr Heerah would have been back on Friday which turned out to in fact be last night.
By now Heerah's report should have been on Mr Warner's desk as distance is irrelevant in this age of the Internet.
What the public interest in this scandalous matter requires is nothing less than a comprehensive investigation to determine the level of involvement, complicity and culpability of public officials as the basis for other serious action.
As she prepares her response to the public's demand for answers regarding the unauthorised emergence of the quasi–police agency, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should bear in mind that the public's patience has worn thin with her government's lack of accountability. Far too many acts of wrongdoing by members of her cabinet, including herself, have been allowed to die natural deaths after strategic mea culpas and apologies. Notice is served that, as in the case of Section 34, the New Flying Squad scandal will not be accepted as just another euphemistic "misstep" from which the public will be ready to "move on". Like Section 34, this squad marked a dangerous development with serious consequences for the management of law and order in democratic Trinidad and Tobago.
From information surfacing so far, this squad was a flourishing agency operating outside the parameters of the law with the full involvement of senior public officials. It is right and in order, therefore, that every agency with responsibility for the lawful functioning of agencies of law and order should investigate this issue without political or other encumbrances. We therefore look forward to the findings of not only the Prime Minister's investigation, but also those of the Commissioner of Police, the Police Service Commission and the Police Complaints Authority because apart from that of Mr Warner, other heads must surely roll.
(From The Trinidad Express editorial 2.25. 13)
Mahogany Coconut Comment
We remain convinced that Mr. Jack Warner, is the prime example of the type of politician the new Caribbean Nation, can certainly do without.The Mahogany Coconut Group, therefore agrees with the Trinidad Express editorial that he needs to be removed from the cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago.The editorial is consistent with our position, taken months ago.
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