The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe says he is seeking Cabinet’s permission to appoint an independent committee to investigate Charles Murphy’s tenure as Commissioner of Correctional Services.

Mr Murphy was controversially sent on leave in October, supposedly out of concern that a Supreme Court order was breached under his watch. Since then, Mr Munroe has claimed that a litany of issues have been uncovered.

Asked about the status of Commissioner Murphy’s position, Mr Munroe said: “That’s a matter where I’ve told them to draw a line under it and we’ll now be moving to get Cabinet permission to get the independent committee appointed to look into the matters that have been unearthed.

 “There was a continuing issue of correction officers he just sent home without proper process and they just keep coming and, of course, if they weren’t properly dismissed and they couldn’t be dismissed, then we owe them money. Every other day it seems somebody makes contact over who I have to direct to BDOC so other than talking about trying to get a full picture of all of that, my view is that you have the issue, appoint the independent committee and let them do what they have to do. I hope to get a draft Cabinet paper sometime this week to hopefully see if I can get on the agenda next week or the following week.”

 Yesterday, Mr Murphy’s lawyer, Romona Farquharson Seymour, said she has already taken legal action in the courts on her client’s behalf.

 In October she accused Mr Munroe of bias in his handling of Commissioner Murphy, noting he represented two deputy prison commissioners who asked the Supreme Court to quash Mr Murphy’s appointment.

 “How do we view,” she said, “that the very thing you were petitioning and asking the court for, the removal of Mr Murphy, which you were asking for in your private capacity, now in your public capacity has come to fruition? Is that a coincidence, happenstance, is that what we are supposed to accept?”