Prime Minister Tears into Security Forces for Poor Job, with Special Venom for Deputy Commissioner Wade, Insider Alleges

Monday's meeting in which Cabinet ministers met with the national security forces reportedly saw Prime Minister Gaston Browne unleash his fury on the various branches of the Security Council – from the Police to the Prison and all the units between.

As the various bodies reported on their respective departments today, August 10, an inside source alleges that Browne laid into them in turn.

The source claims the first to feel the heat was Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin, whom PM Browne accused of not putting his soldiers to work and allowing them to spend too much time indoors.

It is further claimed that the Office of National Drug and Money-Laundering Control and Policy (ONDCP) was accused of being ineffective and threatened with disbandment, with the suggestion that its intelligence personnel be reassigned to the Police Force. 

The harshest criticism allegedly was reserved for the Police Force and, particularly, the already beleaguered deputy commissioner, Albert Wade, who reportedly was accused of failing to work along with his superior officer.

It is a common belief among the rank and file that the Cabinet actively directs the operations and decisions of the police hierarchy; and the source believes that Browne’s subsequent recommendation will effectively end Wade’s career.

According to the insider, the prime minister reportedly suggested that the veteran officer would be of better use assisting the superintendents of His Majesty’s Prison and the Boys Training School; and it is alleged that he instructed Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin to put together a package that would satisfy Wade.

Reportedly, Browne also declared that ranking members of the Force who do not want to work should opt for early retirement. 

He then allegedly took on the prison superintendent, stating that convicted persons are being released ahead of time and that the reduction in time for good behaviour is not being properly applied.

Allegedly, the Courts were also subjected to the blade of the prime minister’s tongue.  The source claims he accused the judiciary of failing the State, saying their lenient sentences were not serving to curb crime, and they were allowing persons to use the system to avoid deportation. 

It is instructive to note that the person ultimately responsible for national security, Minister Benjamin, has never been publicly held to account for what residents consider a frightening rise in crime – especially violent offenses that include murder, shootings, assault, and home invasions – despite the Police’s declared war on crime dubbed “Operation Iron Grip.”

The latest reported incident was the shooting of Asian businessman Yida Zhang on Sunday afternoon, August 9, inside his compound.

The Administration repeatedly has brushed off residents’ concerns by declaring Antigua and Barbuda a “safer” jurisdiction than most of its Caribbean neighbours – in spite of its alarming number of unsolved murders and mysterious disappearances. 

Therefore, Monday’s meeting was considered by many residents to be long overdue, with several telling REAL News they are waiting to see whether the YIDA shooting will be treated any differently than the others have been.