RESHMI RESIGNS
By Ria Taitt Political Editor
Story Created: Jan 22, 2011 at 11:45 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jan 22, 2011 at 11:45 PM ECT
Within 24 hours of questions being raised about her appointment and her qualifications for the post of director of the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA), Reshmi Usha Ramnarine has resigned from the position.
Though appointed eight days ago (on January 14), information about her appointment only became public on Friday in an Express exclusive, to be immediately greeted by outrage, with some of her own colleagues in the SIA describing her as unsuitable and underqualified for the position.
The negative comments continued with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley threatening to withhold Opposition support for critical legislation unless Ramnarine was removed from the position (See story below).
Yesterday, questions continued to be raised about her qualifications, with sources claiming investigations would not bear out the claims made by ministers (John Sandy and Suruj Rambachan) on her behalf in Parliament on Friday.
By yesterday afternoon, Ramnarine, "with deep regret", tendered her resignation "with immediate effect", saying she was of the view "that the work of the agency and my duties as director, as well as my personal safety, has been compromised by the high level of exposure over the past few days".
This, notwithstanding the fact she "had looked forward to serving my country as diligent ly as I have in the Security Intelligence Agency for the past nine years".
The letter of resignation was submitted to Minister Sandy who, in a press release, "thanked Miss Ramnarine for her willingness to serve and wished her the very best in her future endeavours".
The appointment of the 31-year-old Ramnarine to the senior security post had come as a shock. She had entered the SIA as a junior support staff member and earned a monthly salary of $5,000. With her promotion, her salary was pushed into the $40,000 to $45,000 range, with perks including transportation, travelling and other allowances.
She was put above others who were thought to be eminently more qualified, such as Trevor Ganpat who, along with Julie Browne, was appointed deputy director of the SIA.
Rowley, at a news conference on Friday, noted Ramnarine, a close friend of former TV6 journalist Sasha Mohammed, had been introduced as the "whistle-blower" at a farewell party for Mohammed at Trotters some weeks ago.
He asked whether Ramnarine was the whistle-blower to which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had referred in Parliament when the dramatic expose on the activities of the SIA was made. He asked whether her appointment had been a payback.
Sandy, in justifying Ramnarine's appointment in the Parliament on Friday, had stated she was a "graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI)". Rambachan later elaborated, saying she possessed a BSc in Information Technology and was currently a second-year student at UWI, pursuing a degree in psychology. A CV submitted by Ramnarine to various media houses in 2007, however, merely listed her as having done a computer course, Microsoft Certified Systems and Engineer, between April 4, 2005 and May 12, 2006 with UWI.
Ramnarine's resume was posted on Facebook yesterday, and it showed technical qualifications in computing, but no academic qualifications over and above two A-Levels, in which she achieved passes at the lowest permissible level.
Sandy, on Friday, said Ramnarine had been appointed as director with the office of the director of the SSA to assist in the "rationalisation, streamlining and amalgamation of the SIA into the SSA". However, on Friday, a release from the President's office stated Ramnarine had been appointed to the post of director of the SIA and the instrument of appoint- ment was signed by "His Excellency, Senator Timothy Hamel-Smith".
Both Ramnarine's resignation letter and the release sent yesterday from the Minister of National Security, however, stated she had resigned her position as director of the SSA.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/RES ... 33029.html
Lol. So Humes got owned then.... 
..... I hope this is the case cuz I wasn't expecting Pioneer to say such ****..... 
