The Tribune

By SYANN THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

sthompson@tribunemedia.net

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander submitted a preliminary report this week to Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson outlining security concerns at the Ministry of Health, which are matters that can be addressed without his presence and in less than a year, according to his attorney Wayne Munroe.

Since returning to work from forced vacation leave, ACP Fernander — who was given a letter sending him on “special assignment” for 12 months to the Ministry of Health — has compiled all security matters in a report for the police chief; matters that ACP Fernander confirmed to his attorney could be addressed in less than a year.

Mr Munroe told The Tribune that ACP Fernander, who is keen on doing his job, is able to delegate to other areas of the Royal Bahamas Police Force to ensure that security and criminal matters raised at the Ministry of Health can be addressed.

“He gave a report to the commissioner on all security issues he found and he is also able to delegate for others to execute. But, for example, he would not be investigating matters if people ‘tiefing’ from the hospital. That’s what the (Anti) Corruption Unit does. He himself would not go and do an investigation at his level,” said Mr Munroe.

There are still unanswered questions from the letter given to ACP Fernander upon his return to work, according to Mr Munroe. He maintains his belief that on the face of the letter given, the “special assignment” was a demotion.

“ACP Fernander has been genuinely taking the security concerns of the Ministry of Health and dealing with it as an ACP. He said that he does not believe that the matters would take a year if the Ministry of Health is serious about addressing the issues and it won’t require his presence and would only take a couple of months at the most. He is a serious man, now if they are not serious about addressing the security matters they are talking about, that’s a different issue,” said Mr Munroe.

ACP Fernander received the letter informing him of the transfer to the Ministry of Health which took effect January 27 with an initial period of 12 months.

The RBPF’s website lists ACP Fernander as an assistant commissioner of police responsible for crime throughout The Bahamas. ACP Fernander was among eight other senior officers who were forced on vacation leave early in 2019.

Since that time, ACP Fernander and ACP Kendal Strachan both returned to work with letters informing them of a transfer to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Services respectively.