Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Mitchell has voiced apprehensions about what he perceives as an effort by the ruling Dickon Mitchell-led Congress regime to establish a security service under direct political influence.

The former Prime Minister and Political Leader of the main opposition New National Party (NNP) raised the issue in making his contribution to the 2024 Budget debate accusing his successor in office who holds the Minister for National Security portfolio of attempting to “systematically dismantle the police force.”

Dr. Mitchell appealed to the people of Grenada, to pay particular attention to what he perceives as an attempt “to create a miniature security service that is beholden to the whims and fancies of the leadership of the Prime Minister and his security advisors who were characters in our not-so-glorious revolutionary past.”

Dr. Mitchell expressed deep reservations about the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of National Security, which has skyrocketed from EC$4 million to a budgetary allocation of EC$37 million, marking an 825% increase.

“This increase,” he argued, “is largely attributed to an EC$27 million allocation for the provision of security contracts to companies some of which are aligned with the (ruling) National Democratic Congress (NDC),” noting that “the value of these security contracts,” which is “equivalent to 41% of the recurrent budget of the police force.”

He also used the opportunity to highlight several issues affecting police officers, including the perceived “failure to promote officers based on established policies and the demotion of others for their perceived political alignment which has created an atmosphere of discord in the Force.

Dr. Mitchell, who came under attack for similar accusations when he served as Minister with responsibility for National security under his previous NNP administration contended that “the continuous transfers, semantics on advancing the promised pay and grade, the meagre duty allowance to the rank and file of the force, and the sluggish approach to treating repairs at the police station have cumulatively resulted in a demotivated Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).”

“The frustration,” he argued, is evident in the number of officers who have opted to take early retirement.”

The former Grenadian leader, the longest serving in history, questioned the preparedness of new recruits, who he noted “undergo a mere 4-week training stint to fulfill their oath of protecting and serving.

“Mr. Speaker, the challenges facing existing officers would affect the new recruits that are entering with a mere 4-week training stint. How prepared would these officers be to protect and serve as their oath demands?”

Since his defeat at the polls to NDC’s Dickon Mitchell, the former Prime Minister has on several occasions expressed a lack of confidence in the current leadership of the RGPF.

When Dr. Mitchell returned to power following the 2013 general election, he summoned the then Commissioner of Police Willan Thompson to his private home at Happy Hill and informed him that he had no confidence in him as the island’s chief cop.

Dr. Mitchell is also known to have instructed the then head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Superintendent of Police Tafawa Pierre to launch a criminal investigation into a top Congress official in connection with an island scholar awarded to his son.

Within months of retiring as Commissioner of Police, Dr. Mitchell and his NNP outfit was able to recruit former Commissioner of Police, the late Fitzroy Bedeau as its candidate for the 2008 poll in the rural St John constituency.

Police insiders often reported that Bedeau told them that he was the 16th Member of the NNP-led Cabinet of Ministers under Dr. Mitchell watch after the party’s first clean sweep of all 15 seats in the 1999 general election.

Highlighting the troubling rise in gun-related crime and violence on the island, Dr. Mitchell emphasised the urgent need for the ruling administration to address the situation promptly.

“The security of the country is at stake,” he declared, calling on the ruling Congress government “to urgently arrest this situation.”