AFC, APNU call for probe into police $90M

Mar 08, 2012 News

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Pull quote: “We believe that Assistant Commissioner Ramnarine should be applauded rather than repudiated, and any threat of sanctions against Ramnarine should be seen as a threat against all decent and honest officers of the Disciplined Services,”- Moses Nagamootoo

The major opposition parties are calling for a probe into the controversial $90M that government allocated to the police for meals and other expenses for the November 28th elections but which some Divisional Commanders say never reached them.
Former E and F Division Commander, Assistant Commissioner, David Ramnarine, had disclosed that he never received any of the money for his ranks’ upkeep. He also said that he was told to solicit monies and other facilities from members of the business community.
The story broke two weeks ago and it was only on Tuesday that the police, after increasing pressure, released a statement which attempted to justify how the money was disbursed. However, there were more questions than answers, and the Alliance For Change (AFC)’s senior executive, Moses Nagamootoo, during the party’s weekly press conference yesterday, made it clear that any moves to punish Ramnarine for the disclosures would not be taken lightly.

Nagamootoo pointed out that Maths is all about logics.
“We believe that Assistant Commissioner (David) Ramnarine is an officer of integrity and he would have no selfish or personal motive to come forward to say he has not received a cent of the $90M appropriation for police ranks for Elections Day. Why, he has gone even further and said that he was instructed by his superiors to go and shake down people (shakedown is my word). That disclosure is as awful as you can get,” Nagamootoo asserted.
“You reduce the people in uniform to a role of mendicancy for food… not for luxury… for a first class ticket on a plane or a holiday on a beach with blue waters. This was for food to do the work of the nation.”
“The issue is part and parcel of the Guyana narrative of corruption and participation in corruption and in this case, it is a tragedy,” the lawyer insisted.
“The police are the fence protecting the people and are now caught in big controversy. Now Mr. (Clement) Rohee (Minister of Home Affairs), the Commissioner of Police, and all the others are trying as best as they could to whitewash the story.”
According to Nagamootoo, the explanation the police gave of the $90M does not add up, if taken in the context that a number of Police Commanders are claiming they did not receive anything.
“…we believe that Assistant Commissioner Ramnarine should be applauded rather than repudiated, and any threat of sanctions against Ramnarine should be seen as a threat against all decent and honest officers of the Disciplined Services. Because this is in fact telling them that they are trying to gag him to retract what he has said. Now he has decided that there is no sacred cow. He is not going to carry the bucket anymore…(but) let the blame lie where it fall.”
Apart from the AFC, the main opposition party in the National Assembly, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has also indicated that it will definitely be seeking answers from the government on the matter.
According to a party source, APNU will be “going behind it like all other similar expenditures. The public needs to have a proper explanation.”
A top APNU official said that he is certain that Ramnarine was not lying when he said he did not receive a cent from the force.
“My position is this, they (police administration) took the money, held it back, and said no money was provided, or they gave the Divisions a small piece and asked them to solicit help from the public. This breeds more dishonesty and corruption,” the source declared.
And according to the opposition source, the tight scrutiny of public finances will be maintained and intensified.
“We are not witch hunting anybody, but money taken from public funds is not to be treated like anybody’s penny bank. Whoever has to fall by the wayside, let them fall,” the source told this newspaper.
He also pointed to the $1.5M that was also advanced from the contingencies fund “to purchase dietary items for inmates of the juvenile holding centre in Sophia”.
This facility falls directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The source said that as far as he is aware, the centre’s administration never received the money.
Meanwhile, Nagamootoo referred to the recent death anniversary of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, founder leader of the PPP, in noting that the party’s leaders, instead of using the occasion to pay tribute, took the opportunity to castigate the opposition.
Nagamootoo noted that with all the controversies hanging over the head of the PPP, including the recent controversies over the text books sales, various secret contracts and the Amaila Falls road contract, among others, one would have expected that the ruling party would have attempted to take the moral high ground to fight corruption.
“However, the message from the PPP now is that they will fight the fighters of corruption wherever they appear, even if they come out of the police force, we will fight them down. Because Rohee is saying clearly (to the police) if you talk to the press.. no one should make unauthorized statements. In other words, you should put a lid on corruption and suspicions of corruption. And if it happens in the Police Force, you have to zip up…lock down.”
Nagamootoo insisted that there is a genuine atmosphere in Guyana that has to be neutralised – an air where there is rampant suspicions and rampant corruptions.
“And if a state does not feel it has residuary powers to address the crisis of the people with regard to their funds, then that state is a sad state.”
Stressing that the issue is not one of personalities or whether persons are on or off the job, Nagamootoo said that here ought to be enquiries.
“It is the responsibility of those that hold the strings of the public purse. It is their responsibility to take appropriate measures.”

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