Fighting crime with Kerik -- Decisions for UNC and Guyana
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
April 12, 2007
TRINIDAD and Tobago's parliamentary opposition may be quite right in deeming as a "pre-election year ploy" Prime Minister Patrick Manning's recent announcement of plans to soon begin nation-wide public consultation as part of his government's anti-crime fight.
From my own regional experience, I have come to view with cynicism and even amusement CARICOM governments scheduling anti-crime "consultations" with the public whenever there are national outcries against persistence in criminal upsurge, and the seeming inability of law enforcement agencies to bring the problems under effective control.
However, before going further on this issue today, it is to be noted that the United National Congress (UNC) segment of the parliamentary opposition has a problem of its own to deal with it in relation to how the battle against crime should be addressed.
I am unaware of any serious initiative having been taken for a joint, bi-partisan approach by the Manning government and parliamentary opposition to deal with the crime epidemic that has been plaguing this nation for far too long.
What I am aware of is the initiative by the UNC, and specifically its deputy political leader, Jack Warner, to invite the former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, to be an advisor to the party on strategies and programmes to curb the crime wave in Trinidad and Tobago.
The intention, as reported, is that Kerik's firm would come forward with a plan that could be submitted for consideration and relevant action by the Manning government. This move itself, as Manning's "consultation" announcement, is not without its own kind of politics.
But the former New York top cop was to quickly discover, when he visited Trinidad for an on-the-spot assessment of the crime situation, criticisms were going the rounds about his competence and, more critically, his integrity.
Amid increasing reports from leading sections of United States media, including the "Washington Post" and the 'New York Daily News", of claimed criminal deeds by Kerik, the UNC was apparently embarrassed into virtual silence.
The same scenario, if not more sensitively so, applies to Guyana, where the Government of President Bharrat Jagdeo, had earlier offered a one-year contract to Kerik as a national security adviser.
As both the Jagdeo administration and the UNC have come to discover, perhaps much to their deep chagrin and the delight of their domestic opponents, the reporting of the bad news about Kerik is continuing to flow.
They tell of how the former NY Police Commissioner, who almost became a cabinet official of President George Bush’s administration as Secretary for Homeland Security, is facing a raft of criminal charges by U.S. federal authorities. They include financial corruption, tax evasion, conspiracy to eavesdrop and providing false information.
The most recent posture adopted by Kerik, a security consulting firm partner of former New York Mayor and now leading (Republican) presidential contender, Rudolph Giuliani, is that he would avoid being in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago as a consultant, pending the outcome of the criminal investigations against him.
From a Caribbean perspective, what seems politically correct and certainly desirable, is for the UNC to inform this high profile and very controversial "security consultant" that the time has come for the party to place on hold whatever the nature of the original arrangement made with him. The same goes for Guyana.
In the case of Guyana, where the political opposition have been critical of the government's decision to enter into a contract with Kerik, the Jagdeo administration would find it quite difficult not to come forward with a public statement on possible suspension of implementation of the employment contract with him.
It should not be left to Kerik to determine when and how he would proceed with the separate arrangements made with the UNC and the Guyana government; or when to make visits to either country.
Rather, he ought to be told that the recurring media reports on his criminal charges warrant postponement pending the outcome of the cases.
Last Sunday's "Washington Post" article on how the Bush White House "looked past alarms on Kerik", and is now breathing a sigh of relief, provides what should also "alarm" others in our Caribbean region.. (Courtesy Trinidad Express, Wednesday, April 11, 2007)