Leader of the National Transformation Alliance, Gary Griffith, has expressed concerns about the media reports regarding the SSA, which he deemed very alarming.
In a social media post, Griffith said the fact that police were sent to lock down the SSA headquarters and immediately remove the head of the SSA, Najor Roger Best, suggested an imminent danger of some national security threat that needed this kind of swift and heavy-handed action.
He said the reports that followed, however, showed a double standard and hypocrisy, “which perhaps hides a nefarious agenda, similar to the attacks we saw at Central Bank, The Industrial Court, The Integrity Commission, and with myself at the TTPS.”
“In the case of Best and the SSA, Keith Rowley himself is quoted as saying that they acted on “information”. Rowley, as Chair of the National Security Council, is aware of the vast difference between information, intelligence, and evidence. More importantly, the public will recall that in defence of one of his Ministers, Rowley dismissed a damning police intelligence report on the Minister being involved in certain activities, by him stating that ‘this is intelligence; it is not evidence. You do not take action to dismiss people unless there is evidence.’
So he didn’t take action against one of his Ministers because of intelligence, but he took immediate action against Roger Best based on “information”, which is a lower threshold. Double standard? Hypocrisy? Or in the service of furthering his agenda?”
Griffith said: “To further demonstrate the illogical decision making of Rowley, he has stated publicly that he has no issue giving government contracts to gang leaders, but according to the article, in the case of Best, he sees a red flag with Best hiring qualified persons who attend the same Church that Best does. As a clear demonstration of the stark difference between Patrick Manning and Rowley, it was rumoured that one of the reasons Manning hired someone to head the SIA, the previous name for the SSA, was because they worshipped God at the same church.”
“Regrettably the attack against Best may escalate, as Rowley attempts to justify his actions. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Rowley attempts another version of Emailgate, as part of his playbook, to read the audit report on the SSA in Parliament, after it conveniently leaks to certain media persons in both traditional and social media, who would extract the most damning, out of context parts.”
“Sadly, all this perhaps serves to mask the government’s real agenda, as the public needs to be reminded that the SSA has the capacity and the authority to intercept the communication devices of citizens. But this must be signed off by the head of the SSA, who is NO LONGER Roger Best. Instead, this powerful tool has been in the possession of regular police officers for at least 72 hours.”
Griffith added that this latest example of the overreach of the Government is just another clear lesson for all, “that we have to stand up for what is good and right, regardless of perceived personal interest, because today it is Roger Best, but tomorrow it may be you or your family as this Keith Rowley-led government marches on to full-blown dictatorship.”