Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt made the statement hours after a Senior Defense Force Officer told the Lorequin Commission that the force is corrupt and contaminated.
Minister Pratt declined to comment specifically on the testimony of staff intelligence officer Edison Rolle who called for an investigation to be launched into the entire RBDF rather than one specific incident related to missing drugs.
The National Security Minister, who was responding to Journal questions, said the government will wait for the results of the inquiry before deciding what actions to take to ﾓclean upﾔ the Defence Force if need be.
ﾠﾓItﾴs an inquiry and people are there to say what they know,ﾔ Minister Pratt said. ﾓThe government has to sit and listen like everyone else. Of course our job will be to clean it up and to do what we can to make the RBDF a respectable organization as it once was.ﾔ
She added, ﾓWhatever comes out of the inquiry is there for the public to hear and decisions will be made by the government afterwards.ﾔ
When asked if the government would consider adopting the same proactive approach presently used by the Royal Bahamas Police Force to weed out corrupt officers, Minister Pratt said, ﾓI donﾴt want to respond to what tactic we may use at this time, but I can say that we will do what we have to do in order to make the RBDF a respectable entity.ﾔ
Minister Pratt was attending a special ceremony to rename the Delaporte Park in honour of former Progressive Liberal Party supporter ﾓMotherﾔ Louise Sweeting.
During the inquiry, Mr. Rolle said, ﾓThere are corrupt members of the Defence Force. All are not corrupt, but there are many corrupt men on the force.ﾔ
He also suggested that it was the opinion of some officers that in order to get promotions on the force, one must be corrupt.
ﾓI think the commission should have been mandated to deal with the whole Defence Force,ﾔ Mr. Rolle continued. ﾓThe reason I say that is because to deal with one matter still means that contamination will still remain.ﾔ
Gerrino Saunders, The Bahama Journal
