The Administration must be held accountable for the atrocities of the security forces

Aug 30, 2009 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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For many years the opinion leaders in our society have been forewarning of the impending disintegration within the security forces. These organisations, which are established to offer protection and service to the people, have become enemies of the people, and this administration is guilty of turning a blind eye to the countless atrocities that have been committed against our people, especially the ordinary people, by rogue elements within the security forces.
The most recent incident involving the murder of Dweive Kant Ramdass, and the brazen theft of 17 million dollars, really highlights the fact that the security forces have become a law unto themselves. Murder, terror, and robbery have become commonplace.
These are the President’s men who are wreaking havoc.
The people cried out for relief and no one in authority listened. Instead, there have been cover-ups and excuses made. When the AFC leadership spoke against these atrocities, we were accused of being soft on criminals, of even supporting criminals, and of demoralizing the security forces. We gave praise where it was due, but continued to point out the complete overhaul and transformation of the security forces needed to be accomplished.
The Disciplined Forces Commission of 2004 was meant to provide that new beginning, but yet, in 2009, the review and approval of its Recommendations is not yet done by the National Assembly. The Security Sector Reform programme, funded by the British government, has been halted as soon as ‘Fineman’ and his gang have been rooted out and the administration pretended that all was well. May we remind this administration that the criminals are not only on the streets, they are also in billets and barracks.
The AFC warns that the monster that has been created by Jagdeo has become a Frankenstein and after devouring the people, will inevitably turn on its creator – as it has already begun to do. The words of Ashok Ramdass, the uncle of murdered Dweive Kant Ramdass, illustrate the complete breakdown of law, order, justice, and the plight of the people of Guyana. “Today no one knows the functions of the army and police. No matter what they say to us today, this will always be on our minds.”
The AFC feels that if Commodore Best expects his intended pleas for forgiveness to be meaningfully accepted, then he has to demonstrate more than just words, that under his command, the Guyana Defence Force will return to its glory days as being a people’s army, and not as it has become today, the people’s enemy.
Fortuitously, on Friday August 21, we published an open message to the officers and ranks of the Disciplined Forces in which I called on them to recognise what they had become in the eyes of the people and to change their course.
The AFC extends its deepest sympathies to the relatives of Dweive Ramdass, and the people like them who wait in vain for justice.
GOVERNMENT MINISTER BOASTS OF RE-OPENING THE ILLEGAL BACKTRACK ROUTE
This has to be a joke.
The GINA news release that Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud had met with his Surinamese counterpart to beg for the re-opening of the illegal route across the Corentyne River, and that the latter had agreed, is either a big joke, or a sign of perverted government.
A law-abiding government cannot deem the crossing illegal and proceed to prosecute citizens for using it, but when it is expedient to ensure trade of agricultural products, hold high-level Ministerial meetings to beg for its re-opening. What example is the administration setting in terms of the rule of law? The better thing for the Ministers to have met and agreed on was the declaring of the Springlands/Nickerie crossing to be an official port of exit and entry respectively.
No Minister of Government should be heard publicly declaring that he had secured the opening of an illegal crossing that his government officially refuses to recognise as a legal crossing. How ludicrous can this administration get? Back door diplomacy should have settled this matter without the trumpeting of one’s own cause. Should Minister Persaud be prosecuted for enabling illegal activity? That’s the question to be asked.
This latest diplomatic and legal gaffe is amusing as it is distressing to say the least because just less that one year ago when six persons died using the infamous backtrack route, in the National Assembly, as recorded in the Hansard, the administration, through Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, intimated that there was no duty to provide search and rescue facilities because of the illegal nature of the crossing.
Ironically, agricultural trade was deemed important enough to warrant a Ministerial meeting to re-open the illegal crossing, but last year when six people perished, no police, or coast guard assistance was rendered to the persons whose boat capsized. The administration has to stop flip-flopping and take the lives of citizens seriously. The AFC implores the government to do some meaningful diplomatic work to have the crossing from Springlands to Nickerie designated an official place of exit and entry so as to relieve those who use the crossing of the agony of being deemed criminals, and ensure their safety and wellbeing.
GUYANA POWER & LIGHT INC. (GPL)
When will the curse of GPL Blackouts, the curse of wrongful disconnections, estimated billing, power surges, and low voltage that cause consumers to suffer incalculable losses be lifted off the backs of the long suffering Guyanese people?
The PPP/C government has been managing the affairs of GPL for the last seventeen years and must therefore absorb the blame for the failures of this monopoly service provider to deliver, at the minimum, a safe, reliable and affordable service. That they have failed to do so is indicative of other failures in the realm of governance and PUC regulation since the recent public forum has not brought relief from the frequency of unscheduled blackouts and other areas of non-performance by GPL.
The silence of the subject Minister, Mr. Samuel Hinds, given the upsurge of problems at GPL, highlights the culture of opaqueness of this government as well as their indifference to the social and economic consequences of GPL’s non-performance.
INFORMATION OUT OF SIMELS TRIAL AND LUDICROUS REACTIONS
The AFC wishes to maintain that the evidence which was led in the Simels trial in a New York Federal Court has that cogent and compelling attribute to give it the status as “probative information” which ought to lead to a Commission of Inquiry.
As has already been argued by the AFC, such evidence out of this trial which links senior members of Government to narco dealers was forthcoming from the Prosecution witnesses, and even the Defence. Even the independent witness, Mr. Myers out of England, who made the spy equipment, also implicated the Government through his testimony – that it was the Government of Guyana who authorized the purchase thereof.
To be dismissive of this evidence as the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission and, worse still, the Honourable Attorney General have been recently doing, is wholly outrageous.
This dismissive attitude will not bring closure to the families of all those who died in relation to political/criminal episode from 2002 to 2006, whichever side of the political divide their loyalties may lay. Moreover, lessons from this era which will elucidate as to how the security sector must be administered and, conversely, how it must not be administered, will not be learnt if the truth about this sordid episode is not searched for by an internationally reputable body of personages bereft of the partisanship which may come from Guyanese nationals.
This dismissive attitude may promote a cycle of violence.

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