GET THIS MATTER OVER WITH AND DONE!

Mar 20, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

While it could be part of the strategy of the government to bog the opposition parties into debating trivialities and non-issues, thus avoiding the larger issues such as those controversial major investment contracts signed under the Jagdeo administration, the issue of the ninety million dollars allocation for election work by the police is not likely to go away that easily.
The government’s handling of this issue has been pitiable. It took a very long time for the government to have issued a statement on the matter. Perhaps, the government was hoping that the Guyana Police Force would have offered a complete explanation. But the police, also took a long time and when an explanation was finally provided, it left more questions and answers.
In the meantime, the Minister of Home Affairs sounded warning bells about members of the Guyana Police Force contravening the standing orders of the force by speaking out on issues. The Minister is perfectly in order.
If the standing orders of the Guyana Police Force require that grievances be first pursued through internal administrative mechanisms, and if the standing orders prohibit disclosures of certain matters to the media, then the minister is within his right to raise concerns.
The Guyana Police Force has its own internal rules and regulations, and those who do not like those rules are free to leave, but once they are part of the organization they are bound to comply with those rules.
If the rules prohibit speaking out in public on certain matters, then those rules must be obeyed, and if they are not obeyed, then the errant party or parties should be subject to disciplinary action.
It is the obligation of the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force to move swiftly and condignly in instances where there are alleged breaches of the internal rules of the organization.
The Minister of Home Affairs should never have been placed in the position where he had to point out the obvious to the Guyana Police Force. So long as it was the position of the hierarchy of the Force that there was a possibility breaches of its standing orders had occurred, it had a responsibility to seek explanations from the source of the alleged breaches, and if the explanations were not satisfactory, disciplinary action should have been taken immediately.
If, on the other hand, the hierarchy of the force felt that there were no breaches of the standing orders, or if there was justification for what was alleged to have been said, then in the context of the Minister’s statement, it ought also to have responded.
The Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs need to sit down and explain the allocation of this ninety million and how it was used by the various divisions. There needs to be some clarification that the monies were properly utilized by the various divisions to which they were allocated.
Merely publishing a cheque to establish that monies were paid does not clear up the issue of this expenditure and to whom various sums were paid, if at all.
The government is making a really tardy situation out of the explanations for this expenditure, and because of this, there are going to be suspicions. As such, it is now time for the President to intervene and order an internal audit into the spending of the ninety million.
This audit should not be done by the Office of the Auditor General. If the Auditor General feels that he needs to do an audit he should do so. It is not for the government to ask the Auditor General to do anything. The Auditor General’s Office is a constitutional office and should not be subject to any directions by the executive.
The government may, however, out of courtesy, inform the Office of the Auditor General of its intention to undertake an audit. But it is under no obligation to do so.
However, it is time that this matter be put to rest. It sets a bad image for the country, and for the government, for a simple matter like this to be characterized by exchanges in the press.
There have to be new ways of dealing with things, and if there is any person who can be trusted to ensure this happens, it is the new president. He is not known as someone who sweeps matters under the carpet. He should therefore establish an audit team from within the government to probe the matter and to make public the findings, because the manner in which this matter has been handled so far does not lend to public confidence.
There are more urgent matters to address, And it time for this allocation made to the Guyana Police Force to be laid to rest.

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