Assistant Commissioners Andries-Junor, McBean tipped for DC appointments
Assistant Commissioners Andries-Junor and Simon Mcbean
Commissioner of Police Leslie James is slated to proceed on pre-retirement leave within fourteen days while Assistant Commissioners of Police Royston Andries-Junor and Simon McBean are tipped to be appointed Deputy Commissioners of Police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Nigel Hoppie is slated to take over the helm of the force as its acting head until the President and Opposition Leader have their consultations on the appointment of a substantive Commissioner of Police.
BIG Smith News Watch has been able to confirm this development by players within the police force administration and was also informed that at least one of the Assistant Commissioners of Police has been given a heads-up on his intended promotion to Deputy.
Once Promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Andries-Junor is expected function as Deputy Commissioner Operations as Deputy Commissioner Maxine Graham this publication was told, will be asked to remove herself from the force in keeping with her accumulated leave just like Commissioner of Police Leslie James. Assistant Commissioner of Police Simon McBean as Deputy Commissioner will be asked to function as Deputy Commissioner Law Enforcement.
Last week this publication broke the story of Graham and James still functioning in their respective capacities although their time in the force has expired by virtue of their accumulated leave which is expected to take them into their pre-retirement leave. Both should have been off the job since June 11 and 28 respectively.
When contacted for a comment on that matter, Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said that he was not aware of why the two were still on the job and assured that he will be checking with the force administration to ascertain what was taking place over there. A clear sign that he was not aware that two of his senior law enforcement officers should have already gone into retirement.
Later that day Sherod Duncan who was fired from the Guyana Chronicle Newspaper as its General Manager, questioned Ramjattan about his utterances as was reported by this publication regarding the two officers but Ramjattan in usual style, flip-flopped on the issue. The following day, President David Granger in an invited comment said that indeed the two officers should have been off the job but that they were asked to stay put to oversee a ‘special operation’ as he made reference to the current political situation.
The President’s comment also came after he announced that the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force was granted approval to proceed on his accumulated leave. The president sought to defend his decision to keep Graham and James while sending home Chief of Staff Patrick West.
In 2015 the government was clear in its decision that all public officers should take their leave when it is due as payment for leave not taken will no longer be occurring. The cabinet in November of that same year stated that too many officers were remaining on the job when leave is due to them and that when they do that, it costs the state tremendous amounts of money.
