IT IS a quite disturbing development that National Security Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should have found it necessary to order a “comprehensive audit” at the Trinidad-based Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) following media reports on alleged misappropriation of funds.
Since it is the CARICOM agency on which the region’s ministers responsible for national security and law enforcement matters depend for some critical guidance in their ongoing challenges to ensure a safe and secured environment, it is of the utmost importance that the audit takes place as expeditiously as possible to determine the veracity or falsehood of claims made.
In the wake of the initial report in the ‘Trinidad Express’ that quoted “reliable sources” pointing to claimed cases of fraudulent accounting practices and misappropriation of funds, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had disclosed her intention, after a preliminary assessment, to bring the matter to the attention to all CARICOM Heads of Government.
The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, who has lead responsibility, among CARICOM leaders, for matters on regional security, has stressed that should the allegation be true, “it is indeed cause for grave alarm…”
For its part, IMPACS, which was established in 2006 as part of security arrangements for ‘World Cup 2007’ in the Caribbean region, declared in a press statement that since its inception, it has, and continues to “adhere to the management and operational procedures as approved by the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE), and set out in the agreement establishing IMPACS…”
The CARICOM Secretariat statement that followed the meeting of the Bureau of the Community’s Ministerial Council on Security and Law Enforcement explained that the Bureau “will continue to ensure that the Community’s security agenda, which is implemented by IMPACS, as well as other agencies and institutions within the security architecture, is in no way compromised…”
Such an assurance is comforting, but it is imperative that the required “comprehensive audit” be vigorously pursued, with no holds barred, and be as transparent as ever for independent action, as may be required.