PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – THE Commissioner of Police is the most appropriate authority to begin the probe into the authenticity of e-mails presented in the Parliament last Monday by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley. This does not mean, however, that the CoP is the office best suited to finish such an exercise.
That Commissioner Stephen Williams is currently acting in the position should not change the reality that the police remain the proper channel through which to pursue the e-mail scandal to a finality. Nonetheless, former judge and former justice minister Herbert Volney has attempted to undermine the trust and confidence to which the office is entitled by asserting that the commissioner can be removed at any time, glossing over the fact that such removal can only be done by the Police Service Commission.
Nonetheless, lack of trust in all the players involved is an underlying and overriding theme in the imbroglio. This is why calls for foreign expertise have come from several quarters. It is not because local Information Technology (IT) persons cannot carry out this relatively simple exercise. But the e-mails are not primarily a technical challenge. If that were the case, the information which has already come out could have laid this matter to rest. But these e-mails are a political issue, and hence the IT persons examining them must be seen not only as competent but, more importantly, objective and independent.
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