Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner has condemned statements by Nizam Mohammed, the head of the Police Service Commission about the racial composition in the hierarchy of the T&T Police Service.Warner, the Minister of Works and Transport, said such statements would only serve to hurt race relations in this country at a time when the Government is trying to develop serious national unity. The Minister took time out to speak to the media yesterday morning at his constituency office where more than 500 people had gathered to see him, seeking help for various issues.
Speaking at a Joint Select Committee meeting last week, Mohammed said according to information provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Director of Personnel Administration, Service Commission Department Gloria Edwards–Joseph on the ethnic composition of leadership in the Police Service, out of 59 positions only ten were held by East Indians. He did not specify whether the figures were for the current period.Warner said Mohammed's statements would only serve to give opponents of the Government and people bent on racial segregation the ammunition they needed."He has played into the hands of Keith Rowley," Warner added.Warner said Mohammed had nothing to gain when he made his statements.
Warner said the history of the Police Service shows that Afro-Trinidadians entered into the service at a time when Indo-Trinidadians did not want to join the service. He said: "What could he (Mohammed) hope to gain. If it is not right for Cro Cro or Sugar Aloes to divide the country, how could it be right for him?"Warner said Indians hold high positions in other arms of government and in several private and public institutions. Citing an example, he said the top three officers on the Law Commission were Indo-Trinidadians.A seemingly upset Warner said he was "disappointed," and dissociated himself from Mohammed's statement.