Attorney General Reginald Armour has come under more fire over the ongoing issues swirling around the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday described Armour as the worst AG in the country’s history and called on him to apologise to the DPP and resign, in order to protect the Office of the Attorney General.
Armour said the DPP’s Office was “underperforming”, following DPP Roger Gaspard’s call for more staff and warning of a collapse of the criminal justice system.
State attorneys from the DPP’s Office delivered a letter to the AG’s Office, demanding an apology.
Persad-Bissessar added to the criticisms against the AG yesterday, saying no one could have imagined how inept Armour would turn out to be as the replacement for the “disastrous” Faris Al-Rawi.
“No citizen takes any pleasure in seeing the office of the AG being destroyed daily by Armour, who is simply incompetent for the job. His incompetence is combined with a tasteless arrogance when faced with questions which fuel his destruction of a once venerated office,” she said.
‘Professional incompetence’
Persad-Bissessar said there were a number of controversial matters under Armour’s tenure over the past year, and that this was an “incomprehensible level of professional incompetence and negligence that would have seemed to have reached its limit. Yet, this list of fiascos keeps growing”.
The former prime minister said under her administration, a Cabinet decision was taken that the DPP’s Office be staffed with 137 prosecutors.
She noted that today, under the Dr Keith Rowley regime, there are 58 prosecutors.
She said Armour should “summon any honour left within himself, apologise to the DPP and resign in order to protect the office of the Attorney General”.
Persad-Bissessar said Armour has made a “total mess” of any legislation he has brought to Parliament.
She said he has scuttled and delayed the procurement legislation, thereby enabling corruption in public procurement.
