PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley dismissing calls for the removal of the National Security Minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, as Trinidad and Tobago experiences a significant spike in criminal activities, Thursday named Senior Counsel Keith Scotland as a Minister in the Ministry of National Security.
Rowley, speaking at the weekly post-cabinet news conference, told reporters that Scotland, a government backbencher, would deal particularly with police issues and police-to-government issues.
“When you have a minister in the ministry of anywhere, it says that minister will do what the minister says or is directed to him. So there are five areas I expect that Scotland would focus on, not the least of which is the police and, of course, offender management, management of illegal immigrants and drug trafficking, money laundering, and drug enforcement,” Rowley told reporters.
“That is the change we will make and …because this matter is so frontal in cabinet’s activities, his minister will also…will also be in the cabinet so that their work will be directly available to the cabinet”.
Rowley said that he has already informed President Christine Kangaloo of the new addition to his cabinet and that Scotland would be responsible for police response issues and police problem issues “because I can tell you there are a lot of problems in the Police Service, not the least of which is a very simple one, like some police officers….accumulated significant leave. Watch video
“We have to consider bringing some of them back from leave because of specific issues in the Police Service that require their expertise, know-how, and very presence,” Rowley said.
He told reporters that those were the kinds of discussions the government has been having with the police, and he said, “We believe an additional management interface with the government, with the cabinet, is required.”
Earlier, Rowley, in an apparent reference to calls by the opposition United National Congress (UNC) for him to dismiss Hinds in the wake of the spiraling murders, told reporters of the wide range of activities that fall under the Ministry of National Security.
He said it included drug trafficking and money laundering, the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, global security issues, immigration, intelligence, internal security, as well as the management of illegal immigrants and deportees.
But he said in the schedule governing the ministry, “At this time, the police is of great interest to the cabinet, to me as prime minister, where we believe the police need special care and attention, special monitoring, special review, and special guidance in some instances.
“Of all the things we have been doing to see what else we can do to bring about a more effective response by using the police assets to treat our criminal response problem, I have come to the conclusion as Prime Minister that we should have additional governmental cabinet resources in the Ministry of National Security specifically to treat the police,” Rowley said.
He said he has been interfacing with the police regularly as Prime Minster, chairman of the National Security Council, and holding meetings with senior police executives, “and they would tell me and my colleagues in Cabinet what is going on…and what can be done to improve their effectiveness”.
Download video – Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago Dr Keith Rowley
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