I am deeply concerned and troubled that last year a Commissioner of Police was forced to vacate his office and was replaced by someone older than him, and now younger officers are also being forced to retire, yet the Acting Commissioner remains supposedly the exception to this new rule.  This is in the face of arguably two of the brightest sparks in the Police Force returning home from a training course which was to prepare them to lead the Police Force.

It is interesting to note that one was given a confirmed position while the other, who is senior and by all accounts the most qualified and respected, not only within the Police Force but also in the community at large, was given an "acting" position.

It would be interesting to know if any of the 15 who were forced to retire support the present Acting Commissioner, and if they do not, who they do support to lead the Police Force.  The answer to that question may give more insight as to why these 15 senior officers were forced to retire albeit younger in age and having served less years than the Acting Commissioner.

It appears that an elaborate scheme was commenced over a year ago with the sole purpose of preventing the most qualified person on the Police Force from becoming Commissioner.  The immediate financial burden of this scheme on the public purse by way of gratuity payment is in excess of $2 million, and the early pension claim by these officers will amount to an additional $4.5 million burden on the Treasury..

As with many decisions  the Prime Minister and his Government have made in the past 18 months, the contradictions and fallacies inherent in these decisions show the lack of rationale expected of a responsible clear-thinking Government and have left myself and thousands of Bahamians asking:-

Why place a $6.5 million burden on the public purse when we can lease afford it?
Why terminate 15 senior police officers now, when crime continues to be on the rise in every category and we need every officer we can find?
Why leave the Acting Commissioner in place, who is 63 years old, when there is  someone on the Police Force who is younger and more capable of leading the Police Force at this time?
Why terminate 15 senior police officers now and expose them to the indignity of giving them 48 hours to accept a "package" when the Police Force is divided and morale is at an all time low?
 
The Prime Minister and the FNM have yet to give a reasonable answer to these questions, without which one is forced to conclude that the Government is on a crusade to manipulate the personnel makeup of the Force and leave as its head a partisan Acting Commissioner, and in the process the Government is tearing down the foundation of our leading institutions and trampling on the constitutional legal rights of Bahamians

Enough is enough!