The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames yesterday defended the government’s decision to reassign several senior officers to various ministries.

He said it was a necessary move to help address security issues experienced at those respective ministries.

Mr Dames also said the move was a part of the government’s overall efforts to create a safer and better country.

“Our actions as a government is we have to ensure that our approach is very broad in scope,” he told reporters outside Cabinet yesterday.

“Law enforcement is not confined to the police force. We have problems in our schools. We have problems in other ministries of government that need clear oversight.

“So, it’s our job to ensure that we broaden our scope and we put our focus on wherever those issues are, and we ensure that we’re taking all measures possible to mitigate the problems that we’re experiencing throughout this country.

“It’s more than just the streets. It’s in our ministries, you know and so we have an obligation to work together as ministers to help one another but also, all of this is an effort for a better Bahamas.”

Last year, the government directed eight senior police officers to take vacation leave, saying it was part of a policy to prevent officers from accumulating so much vacation leave that they would have to be paid substantial sums of money when they retire.

Since their return from leave, several officers have been appointed to new roles at various government agencies. ACP Kendal Strachan and ACP Clayton Fernander, for example, have been directed to head security teams at juvenile schools and the Ministry of Health respectively.

Meanwhile, ACP Leamond Deleveaux has been assigned to “to assist with the overall security concerns” at the Ministry of Education.

Wayne Munroe, attorney for two of the officers, has criticised the new appointments, suggesting they are demotions. ACP Strachan has sued the government over his transfer.

However, maintaining that the appointments are not demotions, Mr Dames said that in order to address concerns at the specific ministries, “all hands on deck” are needed, specifically those with experience.

“It’s a very high-level position. It’s not a low-level position,” he told reporters yesterday. “It requires very senior persons and, as I said, the issues we face in many of our ministries, they are significant.

“…These ministries are massive. They’re massive and the work that’s required to get them to where they need to go, we need all hands on deck.

“And we must ensure that we have qualified and capable people who can assist the minister and the permanent secretaries in getting the job done and providing sound advice to ensure that we’re doing the right thing.”

Education Minister Jeff Lloyd has previously said that his ministry wants to beef up security as it has undertaken a large-scale technology initiative at all schools in the country.

“Our children, they’re our future,” Mr Dames continued. “The violence within the school systems, the security providing it can advise us how we can better secure those. That’s a job within itself and that’s just one aspect of the Ministry of Education.”

“You look at (Ministry of) Health and with such a massive budget, we continue to have losses and theft of supplies…They must all be secured across this country, the length and breadth that we have not been paying enough attention to in terms of when we talk from a security standpoint.”

Asked by reporters yesterday if there were any concerns about officers seeking legal advice, the Mount Moriah MP replied: “Everyone is entitled. Everyone has a right to do whatever they choose. We can’t fault them for that. It’s your right. If you feel that you have been wronged, it’s not for me to say don’t go to a counsel.

“That would be wrong, and they have a right to choose advice and get the best advice. They’re entitled to that.”