Government’s failure to implement Security Sector Reform disturbing

May 31, 2009 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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The AFC is extremely disturbed by the report that the Government of Guyana has signaled its unwillingness to proceed with the implementation of the Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) in partnership with the British Government. This plan was developed in 2006 and was to be implemented in the period 2006-2008; together with a three-year capacity building plan for a National Security Committee in the National Assembly between 2007-2009.

Parliamentary Oversight was described by the plan as being at the core of democratic governance and management of the security sector, and key to the success of the programme. Security Sector Reform was seen as a critical component for the attainment of good and democratic governance and was twinned with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s sponsorship of the needs assessment of the National Assembly conducted by Sir Michael Davies and the recommendations, which flowed there from in 2005. The inextricable link between governance and security was recognised, assessed, and addressed through the recommendations made.

In the SSRAP it was highlighted that “Guyana remains dangerously close to tipping point. The consequences of failure – of the various stakeholders to seize the moment, to engage and initiate decisive action – may well be the transformation of Guyana into a failed state and/or haven for international criminality, with all the regional and international implications that this may entail. This is a development that should be avoided at all costs and will entail some give and take and flexibility on all sides, in the interests of the long suffering people of Guyana.”
The Jagdeo Administration’s pretense that it agreed and supported the recommendations led to the mobilization of funding; the identification an utilization of experts, and the activation of the National Assembly to pass Bills and Motions. Was this all meant to be a joke?

It is apposite to note that the Plan itself identified the risks to its successful outcomes. These are very instructive and worthy of repetition, and include: –
• A selective approach to reform and reluctance to pursue reforms beyond policing;
• Pursuing operational without concomitant governance (or justice) reforms (it would be dangerous to further capacitate the police without rule of law and appropriate oversight);
• An overly controlled process and lack of inclusiveness, bolstered by the government’s recent elections victory;
• Lack of political will to break the perceived linkages between crime and politics (there is a belief on both sides that certain political interests are manipulating the violence for their own purposes);
• Ensuring appropriate levels of funding through the budgetary process to sustain the institutional and organizational reforms implemented.

During the National Stakeholder consultations held at the Office of the President in the aftermath of the Lusignan and Bartica massacres, the President of Guyana extolled the virtues of the action plan as being the panacea of the ills within the sector. Today we witness the government’s chief pretender and obstructionist, Dr. Luncheon, saying that the plan will not be implemented because of “ulterior motives” on the part of the British Government. The AFC had long suspected that the Jagdeo administration was not interested in genuine, comprehensive and transparent reform of the sector that has been for too long characterized by failure and ineptitude.

Only recently, the Leader of the Party, Raphael Trotman, indicated that there was a disconnect between the Office of the President and the Parliamentary oversight mechanisms put in place to oversee implementation and policy development of, and within, the security sector. This disconnects in our opinion, and we say so without fear of successful contradiction, is deliberate. There has been a continuous pattern of obfuscation, frustration, and circumlocution. This all indicate a deep reluctance on the part of the administration to implement reform measures, and is coupled with their total lack of knowledge of the security perils that our country faces, and the consequences that will follow. We in the AFC are convinced that the government uses these engagements with national and international stakeholders and friends as pressure valves to be opened and utilized when there are crises; but once these subside, it is back to business as usual.

Additionally, this security sector reform programme was specifically designed to go beyond the operational aspects of reform by examining root causes, and the socio-political aspects of the security dilemmas we face. In this regard, many national stakeholders, other than the government, were expected to play their part. These include Members of Parliament, and civil society. The Government of Guyana was intended only to be the vehicle through which the reform process would be facilitated, but this desired outcome has not materialized. The Jagdeo administration is reminded that there is far more at stake nationally, other than the protection of its petty, partisan, and puerile interests.

The AFC reminds the nation of the Jagdeo administration’s refusal and/or failure to implement the worthwhile recommendations of: the National Security Strategy Organising Committee 2000, the Border/National Security Committee 2001, the Disciplined Forces Commission 2003, and of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan 2005-2009. The pattern is pellucid and unmistakable. This refusal to participate and implement wherever, and whenever, the need for comprehensive reform is identified within institutions that touch on governance, clearly demonstrates, that the Jagdeo administration predictably frustrates the process to achieve its objective of ensuring minimal or no governance reforms.

The PPP and the Jagdeo administration have refused to practice inclusive and participatory governance and are taking Guyana down a dark and dangerous road of repression, on which fear and the use of brute force, and torture will be used to govern and subjugate us Guyanese. The PPP administration has begun to circle the wagons to protect their narrow-minded interests. Those of us who want inclusive and democratic governance will continue the fight for justice and our security.

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