BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - CANDIDATE for Constituency Two for the People's Action Movement, Jonel Powell has called on the Commissioner of Police, Celvin G. Walwyn, to resign with immediate effect.
He made the call in the presence of a fairly large crowd at a political meeting held on Monday (Jan. 6) at the Five Ways Junction and Central Street.
Powell said the recent actions and comments made by the Commissioner has warranted him unfit to serve in that capacity and made an appeal for him to resign and allow someone more capable to take up the mantle.
He said it appears that the Top Cop is either ignorant of the laws of the Federation or refuses to abide by them.
Speaking specifically to an incident which occurred on Saturday evening (Jan. 4) in the vicinity of the St. Kitts Marriot Resort, Powell said that Team Unity was on the outskirts conducting a peaceful protest when Commissioner Walwyn approached his colleague Lindsay Grant, Candidate for Constituency Three for the People's Action Movement.
"I saw a man in a red tie rush down...’Lock them up, lock them up’. So I ran over and ask what's going on. But before I could do anything, he said, ‘You, not because you are a lawyer, I'll lock you up too.’ I asked, ‘Lock me up for what?’”
Powell said that the CoP told him that he does not need a reason to arrest him, he could “lock you up for so”.
"I said, “You have to tell me what you're going to lock me up for, tell me what I did.’ He said, ‘I don't need a reason, I'm going to lock you up.’ And, I said to myself this has to be a crazy man. Where this man came from? He doesn't sound right, I know the other police know better than that.
"For a Chief of Police to look at two officers of the Court and carry on like that and violate our rights and insult us and insult the people of this country, something has to be wrong with him. No wonder the fellows down in McKnight and Irish Town always getting harassed and getting locked up for nothing and getting locked up for months at a time and released without getting convicted...because it is starting from the top.
"No wonder we have one of the most populated prisons per capita in the world, no wonder so much people in the prison and no wonder our conviction rate is so small. Because they are just picking you up and locking you up and then you get off. But you done spend your six months in jail and you don't get anything for that," Powell enunciated.
Powell said he understands that the police officers are doing their job by following the instructions of the Commissioner. He however claimed that the CoP receives his instructions from Prime Minister Douglas.
"The same way that Douglas has undermined the government of this country, the Commissioner of Police, CG Walwyn, is undermining the police force here in this country," Powell stated.
Recalling an experience he had with Commissioner Walwyn, Powell said that some months ago he had attended a meeting with the CoP following the attempted denial of one of the Opposition's political marches and was told that they could not march in front of Government Headquarters.
He went on to explain that the Unity women were supposed to go to Government Headquarters to pray and the CoP said if that were done the women would have been arrested.
"You hear me talk about freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the press...well we also have freedom of Religion. We are free to pray in this country wherever we want, and I want to see who the Commissioner of Police going to lock up for praying in this country," he said.
Powell also said that the Commissioner boasts of a degree in Theology which indicates that he should know better, adding that that both comments made by Commissioner Walwyn about making arrests had caused him conduct a research on Walwyn.
He then called on Commissioner Walwyn to resign with immediate effect.
"Either he does not know the law or he means he is not going to carry out the law. So, either way, if he is incompetent and not know it or if he means he is just not going to carry out the law, he got to go. He should resign.
"So, CG Walwyn, I call on you to resign immediately, since you either don't know the law or you refuse to carry it out."
