Moving to the left.....
Lawyers: Lack of checks by Govt 'frightening'By Denyse Renne
Frightening.
This was the word used by two senior lawyers to describe the recent fiasco involving Reshmi Usha Ramnarine, the former director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
The news that she did not possess a Bsc degree in Information Technology from the University of the West Indies (UWI) when she was hired for the position, they agreed, reflected on how poorly the process was handled.
Speaking with the Express yesterday afternoon, former independent senator Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal said: "It is frightening to think this could happen in this day and age, and up to now, there has been no reasonable explanation given for this happening and how this could happen."
Seetahal was asked to comment on the lax way in which Ramnarine initially assumed the director post since she managed to bypass the National Security Council and Cabinet with false credentials.
Last week, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Ramnarine had the necessary qualifications and experience to hold the post. National Security Minister John Sandy also told Parliament Ramnarine was a graduate of UWI while Foreign Affairs Minister Suruj Rambachan said she holds a Bsc in IT, had nine years experience at the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) and, also, has international experience. (See story above)
Sandy has since admitted Ramnarine's appointment was a mistake while Persad-Bissessar has asked the media to "move forward" in the wake of Ramnarine's resignation.
Yesterday, however, Seetahal said the matter must not be left unattended and should be clarified.
"Contrary to what is being suggested that we move on, we cannot move on with this issue until that matter is clarified. We cannot be assured that it would not happen again until we understand what happened," Seetahal said.
Referring to the ongoing commission of enquiry into the 1990 attempted coup, Seetahal said one of the reasons for this is to avoid "these things from happening again and understand why this has happened."
She insisted the air must be cleared on the matter, adding when dealing with matters of national security, the appointment of a head of an extremely sensitive agency such as the SSA, "which is our equivalent to the CIA", a one-on-one interview at the top level should have been conducted.
"There should also be persons in place to check these assertions. Nobody sought to interview this girl to see if she was suitable," Seetahal said, adding apart from reading a person's CV, the person must be thoroughly interviewed.
"The way how the appointment came about is frightening."
Saying the issue is not about Opposition politics, Seetahal said: "The issue is that it has to be wrong for the country; it is a thing which should not have been allowed to happen. Clearly, the way of how people are defending (the issue) is a disgrace."
Also speaking with the Express yesterday, Senior Counsel Israel Khan said he remained flabbergasted over the turn of events.
"If it is true that this lady does not have a university degree and it appeared on her resume and someone made a recommendation that she be given that position, I would expect that checks, as is usually done, will be made to verify the information on the resume. I am personally flabbergasted because in her actions, she has embarrassed the Prime Minister, the Government and the entire country by giving false information," Khan said.
Saying the possibility exists that a criminal offence has been committed by giving of false information to obtain "this highly sensitive position", Khan said with crime spiralling out of control, "a person heading this agency must be of im- peccable character". He said in his opinion, several checks ought to have been made to verify her information.
"If it was taken to Cabinet, someone should have indicated whether checks were conducted, and there ought to have been another arm— Special Branch— also conducting checks," Khan said.
Noting someone needed to be held responsible for "this embarrassment", Khan said incidents like this "will erode the goodwill of the public trust that people have for this Government".
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Lawyers__Lack_of_checks_by_Govt__frightening_-114695639.html