Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Friday, 4 October 2024, 22:48 by Denis Chabrol
Acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken.
President Irfaan Ali seemed set to appoint Assistant Police Commissioner, Clifton Hicken to the substantive position of Police Commissioner, effectively discarding concerns by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton about his suitability for the top law enforcement position.
Mr Norton told Dr Ali that there should be “continued dialogue on the search for a best-fitted person for the chair of Commissioner of Police” but Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira sought to justify the need to appoint Mr Hicken as Police Commissioner not only the grounds that he is the “most senior member” of the Police Force but his lengthy tenure has been further extended by his appointment as Acting Police Commissioner coupled with an improvement in Guyana’s crime situation.
“I am to inform you that in the circumstances, having considered your contentions, and upon weighing same against the accomplishments of the Guyana Police Force under the superintendence of Mr. Hicken, including the significant decrease in serious crimes, improved public confidence in the Force, the overall enhanced performance of the Force, and, in particular, the performance of Mr. Hicken, His Excellency has concluded that it is in the public interest and in the interest of national security that Mr. Hicken be appointed Commissioner of Police,” Ms Teixeira told Mr Norton in her later dated October 2,2024.
The Opposition Leader on Friday said the opposition had already consulted its lawyers, an indication that the High Court might be asked to block Mr Hicken’s promotion. The Opposition Leader already hinted at one of the grounds on which he intends to ask the Constitutional court to prevent the appointment of Mr Hicken who has been acting as Police Commissioner since March 20, 2022. “Constitutionally, I have had no consultation with Irfaan Ali,” Mr Norton told Demerara Waves Online News.
This latest controversy dates back to September 4, 2024 when Ms Teixeira wrote the Opposition Leader stating that Dr Ali proposed that Mr Hicken be appointed Commissioner of Police and that he wanted to make a decision on or before October 4, 2024 and so his response should be received by September 18.
Mr Norton said he did not respond by that deadline, but when he did he told the President there were “a lot of illegalities involved” in the police force and so the focus should be on an investigation rather than the appointment of a Police Commissioner or anyone in the leadership of that civilian law enforcement agency. “We should be speaking about investigation into the Guyana Police Force so that the crimes that are being committed allegedly by policemen are solved and then after that we can look at any appointment,” he said. Mr Norton said Mr Hicken’s name has been called in alleged illegalities. “Unless there is an investigation that exculpates him, then we cannot talk about appointing a Commissioner of Police,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said he told government that Mr Hicken “lacks the certification and the qualification” to become a Police Commissioner. He attended North Ruimveldt Multilateral School where he wrote the General Certificate of Education but the names of the subjects were not specified. He obtained a Certificate in Mechanics from the Government Technical Institute and over the years participated in several training programmes including two diplomas in Human Resource Management and Legal Studies and two certificates in Budgeting, and Management and Leadership at the University of the West Indies’ Cavehill School of Business. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Bedfordshire in 2023.
“As far as I’m concerned, I cannot tell Irfaan Ali not to go ahead but I can say if he goes ahead, he’ll be appointing somebody who does not have the confidence of the Guyanese people and, therefore, will continue to be a failure like Irfaan Ali himself is,” Mr Norton said.
Responding on behalf of the President, Ms Teixeira rebutted Mr Norton’s bases for objecting to Mr Hicken. Rather, she said Mr Hicken had been superseded by five junior officers to the posts of Police Commissioner and Deputy Police Commissioner on September 3, 2018.
Deeming the Opposition Leader’s decision not to support Mr Hicken’s appointment as Police Commissioner as “unfortunate”, she told Mr Norton that he did not raise any such “unsubstantiated” allegations when the President had meaningfully engaged with him in appointing Mr Hicken as acting Police Commissioner.
The Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister said a check with the 2013 Report on the Linden Commission of Inquiry did not provide any evidence of Mr Norton’s claim that Mr Hicken lied to the Commission about his telephone communication with a then sitting Minister. “In fact, there was no specific finding in the said report implicating Mr Hicken in any improper conduct,” she told Mr Norton. In relation to alleged financial improprieties in the Police Force, she said those were being investigated, criminal charges in some instances and in others the implicated officers have been removed from the force. ‘
In her response to the police killing of Quindon Bacchus, she said three members of the force were charged and the cases are pending before the courts.
Regarding the allegations concerning the gunning down of Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes outside Palm Court, Main Street, Georgetown in March 2021, she said ex policeman Dion Bascom, who had claimed a police cover-up, was sued thrice for defamation. She said the shooting death was still being investigated by the Regional Security System and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Asked to respond to the Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister’s rubbishing of his contentions, the Opposition Leader said the Police Force is politicised and was being covered up by a corrupt administration.
Ms Teixeira did not respond to the Opposition Leader’s formal claim to President Ali in a September 17 letter that in 2017 Mr Hicken, as Commander of ‘A’ Division, was negligent in his oversight in the investigation of the alleged plot to assassinate then President David Granger. “After a Commission of Inquiry, it was then recommended that Mr Hicken be relieved from that command post, raising concerns about his impartiality, accountability and creditability,” Mr Norton said in the letter.
Opposition APNU+AFC parliamentarian and PNCR executive member, Ganesh Mahipaul said Mr Hicken, who reached retirement age, was being foisted on Guyanese. “This is the PPP/C at its worst—compromising national security, fostering corruption, and allowing a once proud force to deteriorate into a playground for the wealthy and well-connected. This is not leadership; this is a betrayal of the people of Guyana,” he said.