Clean all stables

Mar 04, 2012 Editorial

President Ramotar delivered his first speech to the Police Conference last Thursday. All of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) top brass were obviously there – barring Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, who is on leave of course.
After a long absence, the Opposition Leader, in this instance Mr David Granger was also present. President Ramotar was refreshingly candid and we believe that such an approach should be adopted with all the agencies he heads: meaning the entire executive body.
The shortcomings he identified in the GPF, with the appropriate modifications unfortunately afflict the entire body politic. At least he is only responsible for the executive branch. First there is the issue of ‘corruption’. The president said clearly to the GPF: “All forms of corruption must be rooted out. There should be no scared cows. If by chance there is alleged corruption, then the law should take its course. This organization must be an example of cleanliness and transparency.”
We agree with the president most wholeheartedly – but we plead that the exhortation will be only taken seriously if it is applied to all departments of government. We are not saying that corruption in one department justifies corruption in another. But we have to understand human nature when we ask humans to obey any stricture. And the unfortunate truth is that individuals will use differential application of any rule to justify their own duplicity.
In the case of the police, they form a unique institution of the state: they are the most ubiquitous among the population – by the definition of who they are and what they do. In that capacity they are uniquely positioned to receive reports of infractions of fellow governmental/state officers and employees or even witness the same for themselves. The point that we are making is that just as how one can speak with certainty of identified instances of corruption in the GPF, which must be dealt with “condignly” surely there have been enough such instances in the other executive departments that must be dealt with in the same manner.
The entire executive “must become an example of cleanliness and transparency”. They must all accept that they are the “servants of the people and are expected to carry out their work without fear or favour. “The power that you enjoy should be used responsibly, and when dealing with the public, we should be firm but also courteous and respectful”.
President Ramotar also did an excellent job of prioritising the challenges that confront the GPF. After noting the success the Force had in confronting and dismantling the armed gangs that had mounted a frontal challenge to the state and wreaking havoc over a large section of the coast, he pointed to the ongoing upsurge in armed crimes.
While the Opposition’s leader may be correct in pointing out that the salary scale of the average policeman might be a de-motivating factor in achieving greater success, we believe that the critique ought to have been proffered with some concrete proposal. For instance, that increased salaries be tied to increased academic qualifications for admission into the Force.
We agree with the president that the tenfold overall increase in resources available to the GPF since 1992 should be delivering a higher level of service than presently prevails.
In an analogous fashion, we acknowledge the success of the executive in stabilising our economy but we note that the resources of all the other departments of the executive were also commensurately increased since 1992.
A higher level of service also ought to be demanded from them. The complaints of sloppy service from these so-called “public servants’ leave much to be desired. And this criticism applies to the Ministerial level: the level of arrogance emanating from this stratum must be reduced to zero.
Just as the president spoke about the police, he should stress “the need for the (executive branch) to work closely with communities to build trust and confidence as this is a “vital aspect of all types of (“development”). “People in towns and villages must see the officers of the (government) as friends and allies”.

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