Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 01, 2009 News
– duty free concession revoked
When Superintendent of Police, Simon McBean, proceeded to London, England, to take up a scholarship in 2008, he did so without the permission of the administration of the Guyana Police Force.
This is according to a senior official within the organisation. The scholarship lasted one year and to ensure that he was covered for the period, McBean sent in a total of nine months sick leave.
He subsequently resumed duties but that was not the end of the story.
For his actions, the Superintendent who is currently stationed in Berbice is facing disciplinary action and this could amount to his dismissal from the Guyana Police Force.
Kaieteur News understands that this move is certainly being considered by the Police Service Commission. But not everyone is in agreement with the contemplated move.
There are many in the organisation who feel that McBean, one of the officers in the force with tremendous potential to rise to the high echelons, should be treated differently, since it would be in the best interest of the force to have the most qualified of officers.
This newspaper understands that the superintendent personally applied for the scholarship and was successful in being accepted.
It is not too clear if McBean applied to the force’s administration for permission to proceed on the scholarship and was denied.
However, since he was entitled to three months accumulated annual vacation leave, he proceeded to London where he enrolled for the programme.
All went well until the three months expired, and being in the midst of the scholarship, McBean had no other alternative but to report sick.
This was properly done through the Guyana Consulate in London.
Things continued to go well and at the completion of the scholarship, McBean returned to Guyana and continued to serve the police force with full pay.
The first sign of things going wrong occurred when he was overlooked for promotion earlier this year.
Then he had his duty free concession revoked and there are reports that he was forced to sell his vehicle to pay the duty for another that he had imported in anticipation of his duty free concession being renewed.
This newspaper could not ascertain who made the recommendation for disciplinary action against McBean, but that process was nevertheless started.
According to reports, the Police Service Commission has found that the officer breached protocol and did not get the approval of the administration. According to a senior official close to the matter, to send in nine months sick leave would have warranted an intervention of the medical board.
“It is not enough to say that he sent in sick leave. Would any employer accept an employee sending in six months sick leave and not do anything about it?” the official asked.
“The officer applied for the scholarship, accepted it and proceeded on it without the knowledge of the force,” another official told this newspaper.
But some of the officer’s contemporaries are not in agreement with any move to dismiss him.
Some claim that the force could ill-afford to lose the services of someone of McBean’s stature, especially at a time when the force is not attracting the best of the academia locally.
“Many people would not have returned to Guyana under similar circumstances. And this is testimony to the man’s commitment to the development of the force,” one of his colleagues stated.
Others feel that the move is similar to the stance taken by the force against attorney at law, Patrice Henry, himself a former Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Henry is presently challenging his dismissal from the force, citing that he was given permission to pursue studies in Trinidad for his law degree.
Some senior officers are of the view that there is a concentrated move to stifle the development of young ambitious police officers, especially when their predecessors’ further studies were readily accommodated by previous administrations.
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