The below release was issued by the NTA led by Capt Gary Griffith
The DPP’s Office is now the last bastion of our democracy and if it comes under the control of Keith Rowley and the hierarchy of the PNM, they will have control of who gets investigated, monitored, targeted, arrested and now prosecuted.
Already having what appears to be operational control of the TTPS, based on their actions of deliberate interference of the independent process, that caused an entire Police Service Commission to resign, in addition to monitoring the calls of, and using Investigative Agencies of the State to probe the finances of political opponents without any relevant ground, and all without due process; it appears Rowley has trained his guns on the last independent body that can stop his march to full blown dictatorship; the DPP’s Office.
Leading Rowley’s charge is Attorney General Reginald Armour, who by his recent utterances and the scheduled meeting with DPP Roger Gaspard this coming Wednesday, which looks to the average citizen as a summoning, it seems that Armour is under the impression that he and the AG’s Office have operational control of the DPP’s Office. They do not. In fact the AG is very out of place and sets a dangerous precedent by trying to question the competence and measure the performance of the DPP; and in doing so he gives the perception that politicians are trying to interfere with the operations of an independent body, and attempting to pressure key persons.
And given the fact of a stunning admittance by Keith Rowley that after he met with then Chair of the Police Service Commission Bliss Seepersad, at President’s House in 2021, she acted illegally in removing a sitting Commissioner of Police, this sets off alarm bells as the continued independence of institutions, guaranteed under our Constitution, our highest law, appear to be under serious threat.
Add this to the fact that Rowley recently appointed a political ally to the pivotal post of President, a position that appoints, amongst other things, independent senators in Parliament who are there as a check and balance of the government, and he now has all the ingredients for a democratic coup d’etat.
Rowley’s contention is that the DPP has to account for not moving into a new building that the government has been paying for the past 3 years. But not only is his interest only piqued after 3 years, it suspiciously comes after two landmark legal rulings by the DPP, which are not flattering in the least to the government and especially AG Armour leading the attacks on the DPP.
Both rulings, were in favour of who Rowley considers his political enemies, and more importantly it shook the very narrative upon which his leadership is based upon, which is that anyone who differs from him politically, is bad, wicked and deserves to be locked up.
An attempt to distract from his 8 years of failure as a national leader who has done nothing other than to divide the country, perfectly demonstrated by his insistence on keeping Fitzgerald Hinds as Minister of National Security, even though he is universally seen as the worst performing Minister ever, look for Rowley and his minions to up their attacks on the DPP. Look out for comments from a certain colourful social media blogger, followed by ‘leaks’ published by Rowley’s de facto minister of communication from a certain newspaper.
For this reason, I urge the DPP to stand firm against attempts at political interference, and even though civil society and most of the legal fraternity sat in silence during the constitutional crisis surrounding the Merit List fiasco, I strongly encourage all to speak out and stand up now, because if we allow Rowley to control the DPP’s Office, along with all the other pieces mentioned above, our democracy may take a hit that it may never recover from.
