Attorney General John Delaney has commented on the ongoing controversy engulfing his office with the appointment of a foreign director of public prosecutions, but stayed clear of enflaming an already tense situation.

Asked by The Nassau Guardian whether he had any idea what the information is that caused the prime minister to change his mind about supporting former deputy Cheryl Grant-Bethell for the position of DPP, Delaney said, "I don't wish to discuss that."

"I think that's a matter that should be, if somebody wishes to pursue that, one should pursue that elsewhere."

As has been widely reported, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said in the House of Assembly recently that he had initially supported Grant-Bethell to fill the post, but withdrew his support after certain information came to his attention.

What that information is remains a mystery.

Also widely reported has been the appointment of Jamaican lawyer Vinette Graham-Allen to the post of director of public prosecutions. She previously served as DPP in Bermuda.

Delaney said Graham-Allen comes well qualified.

"As far as the person that the Judicial and Legal Services Commission [has] appointed as a director of public prosecutions to commence in August, that person comes very well prepared," he said.

"That person comes with substantial senior management level experience. In my estimation, the real challenge in the Department of Public Prosecutions is at the senior management level.

"Yes we can use more resources down the line. Don't get me wrong. That's not what I'm saying. But even with more resources, if they're not appropriately directed and managed, if there isn't appropriate departmental policy as to managing by objective, trying to impact the list of pending cases in a certain way, then having more persons that are not appropriately directed does not sufficiently address the problem."

Delaney pointed out that Graham-Allen has a long career in the criminal justice system and currently serves as director and principal of the Justice Training Institute in Jamaica.

He said that kind of experience would be valuable to the Office of the Attorney General.

"We have some very able prosecutors of whom I am very proud and I'm just so pleased that there have been appointed two excellent prosecutors in the persons of Messrs Franklyn Williams and Garvin Gaskin as deputies," the attorney general said.

Without referring to anyone in particular, Delaney said, "Being a good lawyer or being a good prosecutor does not imbue you with management skills.

"It's a different skill set altogether and people in many different fields of endeavor get it wrong when they think that because somebody is good at doing a particular task that makes them a good manager, but my life's experience in running firms and being involved in the running of firms have taught me that that's absolutely not the case.

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