Former Police Commissioner Winston Felix has accused Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee of witch hunting, and denied having in his possession a radio of the Guyana Police Force.
Rohee last Sunday was quoted in a Government Information Agency (GINA) release as saying that Felix still has in his possession government’s property in the form of a radio that is tuned to the police frequency. He noted that Felix is not authorised to have the equipment.
“Minister Rohee indicated that necessary actions will be taken against Felix should he refuse to return the equipment and continue to tap into government’s operations,” GINA quoted Rohee as saying. The minister made the disclosure while he was speaking at a community policing workshop.
The whole issue about the radio stemmed from Felix’s budget presentation last Friday when he told the National Assembly that he had overheard Rohee giving instructions to police officers regarding a matter on last year’s elections day. However, when questioned about the issue on Monday on the sidelines of Parliament, Rohee said he never said that Felix had possession of a radio.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee
In an invited comment, Felix said: “I have never, never, never had a radio from the Guyana Police Force.” Asked whether he was ever offered a radio, Felix explained that when he became police commissioner certain assessments were made and he was offered a radio. “I told them I do not want any radio at my house. The radios I had were in my vehicle and my office. When I left, they were left right there.”
He said that if those radios were missing, current commissioner, Henry Greene would have written him and made a lot of noise. “So I don’t know how he (Rohee) could wake up overnight and say I carried away a radio.”
Felix contends too that the minister has no right to be dealing with such a matter even if it were so, saying that was outside of his remit and it was for the police commissioner to check his inventory and see whether a radio was missing.
Felix also queried why government would now want to bring up an issue like this when he retired from the force more than five years ago. He believes that Rohee’s comments were prompted by his presentation last Friday during which he accused the administration of hiring convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan to help fight crime.
Felix had also accused Rohee of interfering with the work of the police commissioner. He insisted that he does not have a police radio and if Rohee wants to search his house, he would not find a radio.
However, Rohee said that he does not intend for a search to be conducted on Felix’s property. “I want to avoid this. I want to avoid that, I want him to cooperate by handing it over. I don’t want to go to the extent of a search. I want him to willingly hand over whatever he has that belongs to the Guyana Police.”
Felix among other things had slammed the budget for “doing nothing to motivate members of the Joint Services”. He said the connection between lack of pay and corruption needs to be addressed.
Felix told his fellow parliamentarians the police, however, have to be dynamic and realise that “incidents of crimes are not reducing”.
He said that an increase in the salaries of lawmen was necessary so “as to attract the brightest young minds from the top secondary schools in the country” and tackle corruption. Bribery and corruption are rampant in the Guyana Police Force (GPF), because “salaries are so small”, he stated.
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