Rohee dubs US drugs report on Guyana a ‘falsification’

Mar 06, 2010 News

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In the face of another damning report by the United States on the Guyana’s Government’s efforts to fight the drug trade, Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, yesterday said Guyana is doing as much as it could, given limited resources and called the report a “falsification.”
“The Ministry of Home Affairs continues to reject any notion that Guyana has not been doing enough to counter narcotics in the country,” Rohee declared.
He said that the US is not pumping the same amount of money into the drugs fight as they are doing in HIV, underscoring a call earlier this week by the government’s chief spokesman, Dr Roger Luncheon, that the US needs to assist Guyana more since most of the drugs are bought and consumed by America.
“The political will exists at the top. I am in no drugs man pocket; I am here to deal with the matter on behalf of the Guyanese people and the government of Guyana,” Rohee said in rejecting the US State Department’s 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Guyana.
The report lists Guyana as a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean, “but not in quantities sufficient to impact the U.S. market. US Government analysts believe drug trafficking organisations in Guyana continue to elude law enforcement agencies through bribes and coercion.
Rohee said that the report is in fact a misrepresentation and falsification of the facts and the Guyanese reality, and he questioned how the report was arrived at.
“The architects of the Report spared no effort in their struggle to patch together a document with the fundamental objective of putting the Government in a bad light and to make it appear that the government turns a blind eye to or is supportive of drug trafficking activities in Guyana,” Rohee declared.
The report praised the work of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), but Rohee said for the report to do that while at the same time rubbishing the efforts of Government at fighting drug trafficking, is downright deceptive and misleading.
CANU is an integral part of the government’s institutional arrangements to fight drug trafficking, he said, noting that CANU is part and parcel of the Task Force on Illicit Drugs and Illegal Firearms established to enhance co-ordination and co-operation among Law Enforcement Agencies in Guyana as called for in the National Drug Strategy Master Plan.
“It is not CANU, per se, that is delivering, improving efficiency and enhancing co-operation rather, it is the all round efforts of the Government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the collective actions of the Task Force that have resulted in these positive developments,” Rohee stated.
He said the 2010 report demonstrated that the US Administration is short on action and long on words.
Moreover, he said mixed signals are emanating from the United States, to the world at large, by legalising marijuana (cannabis sativa) in several States, and encouraging the establishment of “marijuana shops” across those States.
“Guyana is disinclined to be party to any ‘Banana Republic’ relationship,” Rohee stated, and called for the establishment of a real partnership based on equity, mutual respect and understanding.
He said Guyana has never stood on the sidelines in the drugs fight. Citing examples, he said all members of the Narcotics Branch of the Guyana Police Force and the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit are polygraphed and that interdiction activities have intensified on all fronts.
Further, he said eradication exercises have intensified in various parts of the country.
In 2009, CANU seized an estimated 56 kilograms of cocaine, while in 2008/2009, the Police seized 137 kilograms.
Rohee said that the government continues to expend significant sums of money to fight this scourge at the level of both demand reduction and supply reduction.
He said that Guyana’s National Drug Strategy Master Plan requires that attention be given to attend to the problem of drugs both from a demand and supply reduction perspective.
In addition, Rohee claimed that work is being done to ensure that there is more control and monitoring of the importation and use of Precursor Chemicals in the country to prevent the diversion of the chemicals for illegal use.
Regarding criticisms against Government’s failure to implement the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, Rohee said that 92 percent of the programmes under the plan have been implemented.
He said that the report also contains an unfair and misleading statement suggesting that Guyana has not been attending regional meetings dealing with drugs.
Rohee stated that Guyana has been making great efforts and at significant to attend anti-narcotic meetings and conferences, pointed to meetings held recently in Venezuela, and Mexico.
He also said that during 2008 and 2009, Guyana was actively engaged in bilateral discussions with neighbours Venezuela and Suriname, on a wide range of issues, including drugs.
As recent as last month, two representatives of Guyana participated in the pre-IDEC (International Drug Enforcement Commanders) Conference, sponsored by the United States of America, in Jamaica.
Rohee declared that Guyana has been co-operating with other countries, including the United States, to identify major drug dealers.
“So long as there is evidence, we are committed to pursuing both major and minor drug dealers, in the country,” he stated.
Rohee noted that the recent repeated efforts by the police to extradite a drug dealer to the US, is testimony to the government’s commitment to address the problem of drug trafficking in a serious manner.

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