NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said his conversations with outgoing Police Commissioner Paul Rolle will remain confidential.
His comment came yesterday after Rolle bashed the administration for encouraging him to sideline several senior police officers.
In an interview with Eyewitness News last week, Rolle said he was prepared to resign over the matter.
He later said he felt betrayed by the Minnis administration.
“I’m home with COVID,” Minnis said yesterday. “I’d say any conversation with the commissioner of police and a prime minister is like with Cabinet meetings — it’s confidential and that’s as much as I could say.”
Rolle said he demanded that the Minnis administration present its directive in writing when he was pressured to sideline Deputy Commissioner Clayton Fernander who was an assistant commissioner at the time; Assistant Commissioner Leamond Deleveaux and Assistant Commissioner Ken Strachan.
Fernander and Deleveaux have since reached confidential settlements with the government over lawsuits they brought under the Minnis administration.
Strachan’s matter is ongoing.
He is represented by Christina Galanos.
In 2018, the Minnis administration directed eight senior officers to take vacation leave, claiming this was because they accumulated so much vacation time that substantial sums would have to be paid to them if they reached retirement age without taking their vacation.
Five of the officers did not have enough accumulated vacation to lead them into retirement.
Some of the officers who were allowed to remain on duty had accumulated more weeks of vacation than officers who were directed to take leave, prompting critics to accuse the administration of unevenly applying the policy and using it only to sideline officers they did not prefer.
When their vacation leave ended, Fernander, Deleveaux and Strachan were assigned to less comprehensive posts than usual for senior officers. Fernander was assigned to the Ministry of Health, Deleveaux to the Ministry of Education and Strachan to the Ministry of Social Services.
The men argued there was no need for them to fulfil those assignments.
Rolle will demit office tomorrow.
He will be succeeded by Fernander.
Rolle is expected to take up the post of Ambassador to the International Maritime Organization
Former National Security Minister Marvin Dames defended the decisions, saying no disrespect was intended.
