With the National Budget presentation mere days away, the Estate Police Association (EPA) is hoping that Finance Minister Colm Imbert announces the removal of taxes and duties on bulletproof vests.
Raising the issue at a press conference at the EPA’s headquarters in Marabella yesterday, EPA president Deryck Richardson said another major concern is that some 20 of its matters before the Special Tribunal are now in limbo.
Making reference to a video where a security officer warded off a gunman who tried to rob a delivery van on Thursday, he said the safety of officers is a very serious issue.
“We have written to the Minister of Finance since last year asking him to remove all the duties and taxes on the bulletproof vest to make it affordable for the employer. The reason why we did that is because we have been perpetually being told about the cost of buying these bulletproof vests.
He said the bulletproof vests are ordered according to the expiry date, which is usually a three to five-year span, so “the cost to the taxpayer will not be as much because it is not recurring every year.”
Regarding the issue with the Special Tribunal, he said the EPA was successful at the Appeal Court in a matter against the Special Tribunal. He said the Privy Council ruled that the Special Tribunal can represent officers in any environment even if there is no local EPA board. He said that the Appeal Court also ruled that the Special Tribunal is not a superior court of record neither is it a court of unlimited jurisdiction. But, he said the tribunal has taken the matter to the Privy Council.
However, Richardson claimed on Tuesday the EPA had a matter before the Special Tribunal and was told that the tribunal will not be hearing any matter from the EPA pending the determination of the Privy Council matter.
He said, “We have absolutely no idea when the Privy Council will hear or when the Privy Council will even meet. The result and effect of that is that about 20 matters that we have before the Special Tribunal have no idea when they will be heard. Those matters pre-date 2018, 2017. People have been waiting a long time for justice. The COVID has pushed these matters back and back and now because of this decision by the chairman of the Special Tribunal Mr Lawrence Achong, we do not know when these matters will be heard. We are concerned, extremely concerned about this decision.”
Noting that the majority of matters before the Special Tribunal there are local boards, Richardson added, “But, he had lumped everything together and said that they would not be hearing any matter from the EPA.”
Concerned if they could ever be fairly treated at the Special Tribunal he said, “These are serious questions that need to be answered. The authorities must come and act on this matter.”
Noting that the association represent officers in over 37 companies, he said most of the issues are low wages, abuse and discrimination.
“You have people crying because they have not been paid for three and four months and where we take these issues now, where do we go? Where is justice if the Special Tribunal is saying they are not going to hear our matters? We don’t know when the Privy Council will call this matter?”
The association is calling on the relevant authorities to conduct a proper investigation into this matter.
“As a matter of fact the decision of the Appeal Court still stands at this point,” he noted.
Richardson said another issue has to do with how contracts are being issued to security companies. He said, “Especially in the State sector, you have contract issues where people bidding 26, 24 dollars and all of that we have broken this down to show that a bid of 26 dollars or 24 dollars, it is impossible for any company to carry that.”
He claimed many companies are unable to pay for officers’ vacation leave, public holidays, medical and life insurance.