OPPOSITION LEADER Kamla Persad-Bissessar has joined the call for Attorney General Reginald Armour to not only apologise to attorneys at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for saying that the short-staffed office was under-performing, but resign.
In a statement on Thursday, Persad-Bissessar said Armour was incompetent which “combined with a tasteless arrogance” fuels the destruction of a once-venerated office.
“After only one year, Armour will be remembered as the worst attorney general in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. He should summon any honour left within himself, apologise to the DPP and resign in order to protect the office.
"He (Armour) has lost all respect from his peers and the wider citizenry, the only exception being the ‘eat-a-food’ lawyers who grovel at his table. His continuation in office will only hasten the collapse of the justice system in our country.”
On Wednesday, attorneys from the DPP’s office delivered a two page letter to Armour’s secretary calling on him to apologise and retract a comment made on March 11 that the office was underperforming.
A day later, the Criminal Bar Association joined the attorneys demanding the apology and retraction. Persad-Bissessar's is the latest voice to join the call.
Armour has remained silent on the issue.
On March 11 he promised to speak publicly on issues affecting the DPP’s office but is yet to do so.
On Wednesday, Armour met with DPP Roger Gaspard at his office, which Gaspard described as a “productive” meeting.
In her statement, Persad-Bissessar said, in the year that Armour has been AG and all the alleged mishaps he was responsible for, “this was an incomprehensible level of professional incompetence and negligence.”
She added that between 2010 and 2015 under my administration, a Cabinet decision was taken to increase the DPP's staff to 137 prosecutors. Now, according to Gaspard, there are only 58.
