Gonsalves criticises ex-cop on PSC although 4 served under his gov’t

Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves is advising members of the Public Service Commission and Police Service Commission (PSC) to be cautious because one of their members is a retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP).

Gonsalves said that they have to be careful that the retired ACP Ronald Christopher does not attempt to lead the constabulary from the PSC.

However, some political observers have noted that Gonsalves gave no such public advisory when three retired deputy commissioners of police (DCP) and one retired sergeant of police were appointed to serve on the PSC during his 25 years in office.

Gonsalves was the only Unity Labour Party (ULP) politician left standing when the party was voted out of office on Nov. 27, 2025, after 24 years at the helm.

The electorate gave all 14 other seats to the New Democratic Party, which has been in opposition for as long as the ULP was in office.

During the ULP administrations, Leopard Stoddard, David Charles, and Lenroy Brewster, all retired DCPs, served at various times on the PSC.

Stoddard had retired from the constabulary before Gonsalves came to office in March 2001. However, Charles and Brewster attained their rank and also served on the PSC during Gonsalves’ tenure.

Sydney Morgan, a retired sergeant of police, was a member of the PSC during the last ULP administration (2020-2025) but appeared to have broken ranks with the ULP government over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Morgan defended Christopher’s appointment in a Facebook post after Gonsalves’ comments at a press conference in Kingstown on Monday.

“If Ronald Christopher was made Commissioner, the force would not be in the mess it is in today. No politician was going to tell him how to run the force because he would not have been anyone’s puppet,” Morgan said.

Morgan said Christopher has been his instructor at the Police Training School “and I have great respect for him.

“He representing the police on the commission is a good choice. I believe he will do his best to ensure that everyone gets a fair deal,” the retired sergeant of police said.

“Under the previous administration, the promotions were arranged and all the chairman wanted was for other members to be yes men.  The then commission to me was just a figurehead. I am waiting patiently to see how things will be done under this new commission,” Morgan said in his Facebook post.

In keeping with convention, a new PSC was sworn into office after the general election.

The commissioner, who took office on Dec. 31, 2025, is chaired Laura Anthony-Browne, a retired public servant and former director of planning, who had held prominent roles across administrations.

The other members are Ingrid Fitzpatrick, Adrian Fraser, Allanson Cruickshank, Shirlan M. “Zita” Barnwell and Christopher.

In his comments, Gonsalves, who as a former minister of national security had ministerial oversight of the police force, said he wanted to “say something to some good people” who have been appointed on the Public Service Commission and Police Service Commission.

He said Anthony-Browne is “a patriot”, as is the case with Fitzpatrick, adding that Fraser is “a good person, good human being.

“As in fact, all those which we have appointed during the ULP time, Blazer Williams as chairman, was an excellent person. So, I’m not going to be involved in denigrating good citizens who have come to service.”

Gonsalves said he did not know a great deal about Alanson Cruickshank in his mature years.

“I know him as a young man growing up. He’s come from good family and everything. He has a good education. He has his own politics. That’s okay.

“But I want to advise them in relation to the Police Service Commission. When you appoint a policeman, an ex-policeman on the Police Service Commission, you have to be careful, and I’m asking the other members of the public service, the Police Service Commission, to bear this in mind.

“It is well known that Ronald Christopher would have loved to be commissioner of police. No problem there. Everybody can be entitled to his or her ambition, but there’s always a danger — and you have to watch for it that a person who had the ambition to be commissioner of police, didn’t become commissioner of police, the other members of the Police Service Commission have to watch him to see that he doesn’t want to run the police force from the Police Service Commission.”

Gonsalves said he was just giving advice, adding that he is “not an ordinary leader of the opposition”, having been prime minister for almost 25 years.

“One of the reasons you never appointed a commissioner of police who is retired to go on the Police Service Commission is that you didn’t want him to continue to run the force,” Gonsalves said.

“Similarly, somebody who was never commissioner, the members of the commission — I’m not saying that Christopher is going to do this, but there’s a danger, and they have to look out for this danger, otherwise you will have chaos in the police force.”

He noted that the commissioner of police appoints people up to the rank of sergeant from the station.
Station sergeants, inspectors, assistant superintendents, superintendents and assistant commissioners are all appointed by the Police Service Commission without any requirement, constitutionally, for input by the prime minister, Gonsalves said.

“In the case of the commission and deputy commissioner, the prime minister would have a veto. The Constitution puts it out.”

Sources familiar with the relationship between Gonsalves and Christopher have suggested to iWitness News that the opposition leader might be fueled by a personal issue with Christopher.

One source noted that Christopher retired from the constabulary 13 years ago.

However, during his last six years as a police officer, he was removed from the constabulary and placed in charge of port security, having essentially only a desk and a chair in an office.

A source told iWitness News that, around 2007, Christopher received a call from a senior national security official who said the ULP government wanted him to take up a post in Barbados.

Christopher told the government officials that he could not accept the post due to family obligations.

Later that year, Christopher was reassigned to the Ministry of National Security to deal with the security of government buildings.
However, his office was at the Port Authority in Kingstown. He remained in that position until his retirement around 2013.

“It was only a matter of vindictiveness that all of this happened. Christopher refused to go to Barbados because they wanted to get him out of the system, and therefore, the government acted in that way.”

It was the same treatment that was meted out to Superintendent Artis Davis and Hackshaw. Davis was sent to the Ministry of Education, taking over from Hackshaw when he retired.”