Dear Editor,
The NTA Political Leader submitted an urgent proposal for the establishment of a Border Protection Unit over 3 years ago, which was ignored by Keith Rowley.
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It is with great interest that we hear the JSC, controlled by the Government, recommending the need for a Border Protection Unit. This very recommendation was submitted to the Prime Minister over 3 years ago by the present Political Leader of the NTA, Gary Griffith when he was Commissioner of Police.
As COP, Griffith was advised by our international allies that over 95% of illegal weapons entered our country via legitimate ports of entry. Yet, this PNM Government curiously refused to address this issue, never even lifting a finger, and instead spent the last 3 years focusing on law-abiding citizens’ access to legal firearms. This could lead many to assume that this Government is either totally incompetent or has a reason to allow such illegal entry to continue.
Nevertheless, Griffith, through his supervision, delegated a strong team to draft a Policy for the establishment of such a Border Protection Unit over 3 years ago. This was submitted to the Prime Minister, as the past and present Security Ministers, Young and Hinds, seemed uninterested in such a Unit being formed.
Not surprisingly, the Prime Minister did not even have the common courtesy to respond to the Policy Document, which could have been made fully operational in weeks. But this could only have occurred if Rowley was as interested in playing golf as he should have been in dealing with the biggest national security problem that our country faces – the importation of illegal guns and ammunition, which are used to terrorize the public and see record highs in crime and murders.
So this afterthought by the JSC, with them also knowing fully well that the NTA has stressed the importance of such a Unit on several occasions to the public, including during the recent Local Government Elections, seems to be a deliberate move by the Government to fool the country into believing that the concept for such a Unit was initiated by the Government.
Unfortunately, while we all understand that this Government has two speeds in dealing with critical issues, “dead slow and stop,” the NTA, having done all the homework, research, and conceptualization for the establishment of this Unit, and having already drafted the concept for such a Unit, will present it to the Prime Minister yet AGAIN.
Knowing what to do and how to implement it are two different things, however, which is why the NTA assures the public that having already done the work required for the establishment of a Border Protection unit, we would immediately implement it when the Government changes, because this present Government is either unable or unwilling to have it formally established.
Given the confidential and sensitive nature of such a proposal, we had to redact parts. Please find attached a brief summary of how the unit should be established (Rationale, Mandate, Operational Concept, and Staffing), which was submitted 3 years ago to Prime Minister Keith Rowley by then CoP and present NTA Political Leader, Gary Griffith.
NTA Communications Unit
Email: ntaistheway@gmail.com
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