PNCR’s ‘actionable intelligence’ incompetence exposed in swipe at Top Cop

The Peoples National Congress Reform remains mum after several questions that the party sought answers for, regarding a plot of land on the Soesdyke Linden Highway were found to be misdirected during a quest to link the land’s ownership to Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken.

The land is being used to dump derelict vehicles picked up by the Ministry of Public Works and to a lesser extent, used by the Guyana Police Force to store several unserviceable vehicles.

BELOW WERE THE QUESTIONS ASKED BY THE PEOPLES NATIONAL CONGRESS REFORM IN THEIR PRESS RELEASE

1. Is the land owned by Police Commissioner (ag) Hicken? (ANSWER: No)

2. Is he paid a rent by the Police? (ANSWER: The Commissioner of Police cannot be paid a renal for something he does not own)

3. Who authorized the selection of the said site for the storage of the vehicles? (ANSWER: The PNCR- Led Coalition Government Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson in 2016)

4. Was there public tender for the said facility? (ANSWER: There can be no tender for a plot of state land being sought to be used by another state agency. There were two tenders which were published publicly and those were for the construction of a fence and the construction of a road for the said facility)

5. If he is paid, isn’t that a conflict of interest? (ANSWER: There can be no conflict of interest if the Commissioner of Police has no interest in the plot of land)

WHY THE SECRECY? (ANSWER: The question of secrecy is a non-issue except to say that the PNCR has failed to prove it can gather actionable intelligence on such a basic ABC matter. The PNCR’s inability to gather actionable intelligence was first exposed publicly when it failed to detect that one of its own Coalition Led government Members of Parliament would vote against it in a no-confidence motion back in 2018.)

Interestingly, the answers to all of the questions asked by the PNCR could have been answered by two Members of Parliament within the Opposition benches who served as ministers in the ministry that oversaw the acquisition of the said plot of land.

On Tuesday former Minister of Public Infrastructure within the APNU Government David Patterson spoke on the issue in an invited comment.

He said when he became minister, as part of efforts to clean up Georgetown, there was a need to remove derelict vehicles from the streets and the site was identified and chosen. Former national engineer Walter Willis was the time tasked with overseeing that project.

The Peoples National Congress Reform’s claim that someone from the area alerted them to the presence of the land and its activities there is now being questioned.

This is so because the area where the vehicles are being stored is not swan as the PNCR alluded to in their statement. Further questions are also raised on why someone from the area would not know the name of the village they are from.

If the Peoples National Congress would apologize to the nation for misleading it on this issue, is yet to be seen.