Panday says T&T PSC head fell prey to "racist" reporters

Basdeo Panday, the former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, says Nizam Mohammed, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, may have fallen prey to "racist" reporters when he made statements about an ethnic imbalance in the hierarchy of the twin island republic’s police service.

According to Mr. Panday, the media have a habit of misleading the public to suit their own interests.

Mr. Mohammed had said there were more people of African ethnicity in the leadership of the police force, as opposed to their East Indian colleagues and the Commission, with the help of the Parliament, intended to change this since there must be what he called an "ethnic balance" within the service to ensure equality of treatment.

Mr. Panday, who saw the need for racial imbalance to be "cited, investigated and corrected" within all factions of the society (not just the Police Service) noted the importance of quoting the Hansard records and not sensational reports given by some of those in the media who have their own agenda.

"The newspaper, the media, always highlight things in the worst possible way... what the newspapers print are their views, those are the racists, those who make the headlines are the racists.

"You first have to admit that there is an imbalance as Mr. Mohammed rightly said and he is talking the truth and if we admit that he is talking the truth then we find out why it has been happening, how can we correct it and so on. That is how a nation progresses," Mr., Panday said.

He noted that his intention was not to get involved in "a racial argument" and that the real question ought to surround whether Mohammed had spoken the truth.

"If what Mr. Nizam is saying is true, then we have a problem in the society and it has a right to determine that problem and to take remedial action," he added.

(Source: The CARICOM news Network)