Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh does not support the reappointment of Erla Harewood-Christopher as Police Commissioner.
“She has not given me any sense of comfort,” he told reporters following an Eid ul Fitr function at the Couva South Auditorium on Wednesday.
The Opposition MP added: “No constituent that I have interacted with during her tenure has indicated to me that they have any confidence in the Prime Minister as the head of the National Security Council, the respective Ministers of National Security, in former Ministers Brigadier General Edmund Dillion (retired) , Stuart Young and in this instance Fitzgerald Hinds. They have been woeful in serving the citizens of this country.”
Indarsingh said a Bill was laid in Parliament last Friday would allow the government to bypass the Police Service Commission to someone to act in the absence of the Police Commisioner.
“If they go on leave or are out of the country on official business it will now be at the sole behest of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago. That reeks of further politicization of what is supposed to be (done by) the independent institutions of the country.
“The Prime Minister and the Cabinet wants to take over the role of the Police Service Commission,” he said.
Indarsingh said the Freeport and Couva Police Stations are hampered by shortages of equipment and manpower and are in a state of disrepair.
He was critical of what he claimed was a public relations campaign by the Government.
“We continue to be bombarded with tag lines such as law enforcement agencies are pursuing all efforts, there is a whole government approach, arrests are imminent, we are pursuing all leads. When you speak of persons being apprehended and bought before the judicial system of Trinidad an Tobago, the conviction rate is appalling and that says to us that the Government has its priorities wrong.”