Open letter to COP Miller, PS Pompey, the AG and Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tue, Nov 27, 2012

Editor: Now that the dust has settled on the Senegal scam, or seemingly so (at least until P. S. Pompey returns to the State, according to PM Gonsalves), it is time for me to have my two cents say on the matter.{{more}}

The PM’s full disclosure to the Searchlight newspaper of Tuesday, November 13, regarding a conversation that he had with Commissioner Miller, without affording Miller the courtesy of at least having all the facts in the matter, leaves much to be desired.

According to the chain of command within the hierarchy of the PM’s dynasty, Godfred Pompey is the Permanent Secretary of National Security and, as is his custom, forwarded an email to Commissioner Miller to recommend persons to attend a course in Human Trafficking, a problem I am led to believe is hitting our Hairouna by storm. Quite naturally, one would expect some input from National Security as to the appropriate persons that can benefit from such a course. My question to all is this:

1. Where should the due diligence have been done first? If you guessed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then someone there should be answering some questions regarding the inefficiencies in that Ministry.

Ok then.

2. So it slipped through the fingers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and quite naturally made its way down to Ministry of National Security, Air and Seaports. My question again is this: where was the due diligence, or is this the modus operandi of PS Pompey’s Ministry? Would Godfred Pompey, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of National Security, Air and Seaports, think about forwarding a mail of this nature to any of the departments under this Ministry? Suppose a slip up of this nature were to happen at the international airport at Argyle, where persons in the far East are asking airport officials to come for big monies to help complete the airport, wouldn’t a due diligence have been done? Just imagine the repercussions.

The newspapers ran with this story because the fall guy, who obviously ranks at the bottom of the chain in terms of making this decision, accepted responsibility. I wonder how many more will stand up and say

“I am responsible too.”

One good thing Commissioner Miller has in his favour is that he never kissed a$$#s to get his position and the PM still has confidence that he didn’t cut throats to get it. Yes, his ascension to this position was quick, so lots of persons got bruised along the way. No doubt grudges are still being nursed; hence the reason why the newspaper got full copies of the documentation, obviously a leak from within his general administration office.

I am sure that Commissioner Miller has learned his lesson, but it is not my style to leave without a few quotations that will save you Commissioner Miller from being scammed on the home front as well:

1. They (other police officers and ministerial workers) act like they wish you well. You have to act like you believe them.

2. Continue to keep your integrity and accept responsibility. Making bad decisions is a part of life. So, don’t do like the others and pass on blame for any bad decisions made. This is immature.

3. Finally, a quotation from Bro Malcolm X: “if you are not careful, the newspapers will have the people hating you, even though you are the oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

Kingsley De Freitas