THE NEW TODAY is very concerned about the state of Grenada’s national security based on information coming out from the attack on a member of the Security Detail of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
The news is not looking good about the decision making process within the hierarchy of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) which is the main arm responsible for the security of the state of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique.
The word from many officers in the force is that the individual in question should never have been selected in the first place to provide security cover for PM Dickon Mitchell.
There are more than credible reports that the individual has a known drinking problem and one with Disciplinary issues in the force.
It begs the question – who made the decision to put such an individual in a key and sensitive position around the Prime Minister of the country?
Any such person can easily compromise the safety and security of a Prime Minister.
The issue of national security should never ever be taken lightly as it is a life and death matter.
A serious error in National Security contributed tremendously to the October 19, 1983 execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his Cabinet colleagues at Fort George.
Bishop was stripped of his security apparatus when he was placed under House arrest by the OREL faction within the ruling New Jewel Movement (NJM) and those who came forward to provide security for “The Comrade Leader” did not understand the complex political situation that was unfolding in the country.
A more astute and sensitive security detail would realise that the place to take Bishop to get the greatest protection was among “The Masses” who were gathering in numbers at the Market Square to hear from “Their Leader” or at Point Salines where the Cuban construction workers who had military training would have provided the necessary security for “The Son” of Fidel.
The point here is that a security officer around a Prime Minister is serious business especially if the individual has to make quick decisions to protect the life of the person he has been entrusted to ensure no harm is ever done to him.
THE NEW TODAY recalls the negative response from several quarters in the country when former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell said he did not trust other police officers with his life except the members of his Security Detail that served under him throughout his tenure as leader of the government and country.
There was a message that the anti-Keith Mitchell forces in the country missed.
The former Prime Minister was informing all and sundry that RGPF could not be trusted and was incompetent in providing security not only for him but even new Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell as the current event with this particular individual has now so clearly demonstrated.
In a serious police force, heads will roll among those who made such a bad decision, blunder and mistake in putting this kind of character around the Prime Minister of the country.
The NDC as a party should not take this thing lightly and should make every effort to ensure that no one plays with the life of PM Dickon Mitchell.
The current Political Leader of Congress is your prized asset who helped to propel the party to victory in the June 23, 2022 general election.
If Dickon Mitchell is removed from the picture, the NDC will struggle to win the next general election without him leading the charge.
The Revolution died with Maurice Bishop and the current team in charge at the Botanical Gardens will struggle to survive without Dickon Mitchell at the helm.
It is time for the Transformational Agenda to descend on RGPF and put in place a team that can give better leadership, management and guidance in National Security.
THE NEW TODAY is calling for the recruitment of a qualified and capable senior police officer with an excellent track record from either Barbados or The Bahamas to come in with a small team of about three others to help in rebuilding RGPF which is badly lacking in capacity at the top at the moment.
This individual must be given a free hand in assessing those officers within the local Police Force who can then be put in the right position to run RGPF within a 3-year timeframe.
It appears that PM Dickon Mitchell is not afraid to make some bold decisions such as the one with the Marketing Board, to close down its activities for at least the next six months and resume operations as part of a Public Private Partnership.
THE NEW TODAY is hopeful that a decision will be made in short order to fix the problem that is in RGPF in keeping with the mandate given by the electorate just over seven months ago to change the status quo.