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Clement Rohee’s appearance and performance before the Linden Commission of Inquiry was a political catastrophe for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration. His responses to intense interrogation by attorneys for A Partnership for National Unity confirmed the public’s worst fears that the management of public security in this country is in the wrong hands.
Clement Rohee has served in the Cabinet continuously for over twenty years. He was appointed, first, as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2001; second, as Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation from 2001 to 2006 and, third, as Minister of Home Affairs from 2006 to the present.
He is the longest-serving Minister of the government next to the Prime Minister. He ought to be one of the most experienced.
Rohee, after 20 years in government, should have comprehended the concept of ministerial responsibility. This means that he must accept responsibility for the performance of his Ministry. This means, also, that he has an obligation to the National Assembly, if not to the entire nation, to account and to be held accountable for the actions and behaviour of his Ministry.
If Rohee, as a Minister of a service such as the Guyana Police Force that is within his Ministry, performs in such an incompetent manner that the Administration is likely to be brought into ridicule or contempt, he should accept responsibility and resign.
The doctrine of ministerial responsibility, therefore, obliges the Administration to accept responsibility for the minister’s performance. The minister must resign if his performance undermines public confidence in his ability to manage public security.
To hang on to office is a sign not of getting ready to “rumble” but merely allowing the security of the nation to tumble deeper into lawlessness.
The National Assembly, therefore, on receiving and reviewing evidence of ministerial incompetence, exercised its power to pass a resolution of ‘no confidence’ in Rohee’s ability to function as Minister of Home Affairs and called on the Administration to revoke his appointment.
The National Assembly did consider the abundant evidence of mismanagement, maladministration and dereliction of duty. It was convinced that such incompetence could have been avoided by prudent administration and these were the grounds for questioning the minister’s ability to discharge his ministerial responsibility.
Rohee, to avoid dismissal from office, the disdain of the National Assembly or further damage to public security, should resign as minister of his own accord.
Rohee’s six-year tenure of office as Minister of Home Affairs has witnessed criminal violence, massacres at Bartica, Lusignan and Lindo Creek, numerous extra-judicial killings, banditry and piracy. Responsibility for every one of these underperforming sectors of public order and safety rests with the Minister of Home Affairs.
There is no doubt that Rohee has not only the ‘authority’ but also the ‘duty’ and the ‘ministerial responsibility’ to issue such ‘orders and directions’ for the command and superintendence of the Force. He is not reluctant to respond to situations and to recognize danger when he is ready.
He issued instructions to the Commissioner of Police to transfer the Commander of E & F Police Division –of which Linden is an integral part – within 24 hours of the Linden killings.
He personally met [then] Commissioner of Police Henry Greene and several levels of the Commissioner’s subordinates –Divisional Commander, George Vyphuis and senior officers, Linden Alves, Errol Watts, Clifton Hicken, and Patrick Todd –to discuss the circumstances surrounding the incident on December 6, 2011 when several volleys of rubber bullets were fired by the Police at a peaceful procession of protestors in Georgetown.
Rohee is said to have “expressed surprise over a junior rank having the authority to make such an important decision [to fire rubber bullets into a peaceful crowd].” He maintained that such a decision should have been made at a higher level, as outlined in the Force’s Standard Operating Procedures.
He told the senior police officers that “shooting at the back of some protestors is inexplicable and unacceptable [and] was another “manifestation of bad judgment by the ranks on the ground and must never be repeated.”
Rohee is said to have called on the Commissioner to “immediately put in place other best practices with respect of crowd control and the necessary corrective administrative and command control measures to avoid a repetition of that unfortunate event.”
Yet, he did not see it fit to convene a commission of inquiry into this “inexplicable and unacceptable” incident.
The Minister, therefore, did not confine his efforts to security policy; he was involved in operational matters. A GINA report of 23rd July 2012, five days after the killings, confirmed the fact that: “From a public order point of view, the Ministry of Home Affairs was tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the situation on a day-by-day basis, which meant keeping close observation of the protestors, the cause they are advancing, the slogans that were being used and to check whether or not they were targeting any specific individual or institution.”
Rohee, during his six-year tenure of office as Minister of Home Affairs, witnessed several massacres. The first was at Lusignan on the East Coast in January 2008 where 11 persons were killed; the second was at Bartica in the Essequibo River in February 2008 where 12 persons were killed and the third occurred at Lindo Creek in the Berbice River in June 2008 where eight persons were killed.
Yet, Rohee convened no commissions of inquiry over the past four years to investigate these atrocities and bring the assailants to justice. The victims’ families, even now, have received no satisfactory answers from the minister who is responsible for human safety!
Rohee, nevertheless, is aware of his limitations. He admitted, in the wake of the Lusignan and Bartica massacres, that “Government is cognizant of the Security Forces’ shortcomings.” He promised that: “Several aspects of the Government of Guyana-United Kingdom Security Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) will be implemented by month-end [February 2008]…A British expert is expected in the country by month-end to begin the training aspect.” This never happened!
The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration and its Minister of Home Affairs, instead of implementing the Security Sector Reform Action Plan, discarded it.
The entire country is suffering from PPP/C’s recklessness yet, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, its chief spokesman threatens to “rumble” in order to keep Rohee in his position.
Dr. Luncheon, in an unforgettably unintelligent utterance on 11th October, ignited the ‘October riot’ at Agricola on the East Bank. He told the media on that fateful day that, with regard to the PPP/C’s “support of our position on Minister Rohee’s retention as Cabinet Minister and as Minister of Home Affairs…As Muhammad Ali said, let’s get ready for the rumble.”
While the PPPC and Rohee get ready to rumble, however, Guyana bleeds and citizens suffer from violent crime.
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Clement Rohee’s appearance and performance before the Linden Commission of Inquiry was a political catastrophe for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration. His responses to intense interrogation by attorneys for A Partnership for National Unity confirmed the public’s worst fears that the management of public security in this country is in the wrong hands.
Clement Rohee has served in the Cabinet continuously for over twenty years. He was appointed, first, as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2001; second, as Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation from 2001 to 2006 and, third, as Minister of Home Affairs from 2006 to the present.
He is the longest-serving Minister of the government next to the Prime Minister. He ought to be one of the most experienced.
Rohee, after 20 years in government, should have comprehended the concept of ministerial responsibility. This means that he must accept responsibility for the performance of his Ministry. This means, also, that he has an obligation to the National Assembly, if not to the entire nation, to account and to be held accountable for the actions and behaviour of his Ministry.
If Rohee, as a Minister of a service such as the Guyana Police Force that is within his Ministry, performs in such an incompetent manner that the Administration is likely to be brought into ridicule or contempt, he should accept responsibility and resign.
The doctrine of ministerial responsibility, therefore, obliges the Administration to accept responsibility for the minister’s performance. The minister must resign if his performance undermines public confidence in his ability to manage public security.
To hang on to office is a sign not of getting ready to “rumble” but merely allowing the security of the nation to tumble deeper into lawlessness.
The National Assembly, therefore, on receiving and reviewing evidence of ministerial incompetence, exercised its power to pass a resolution of ‘no confidence’ in Rohee’s ability to function as Minister of Home Affairs and called on the Administration to revoke his appointment.
The National Assembly did consider the abundant evidence of mismanagement, maladministration and dereliction of duty. It was convinced that such incompetence could have been avoided by prudent administration and these were the grounds for questioning the minister’s ability to discharge his ministerial responsibility.
Rohee, to avoid dismissal from office, the disdain of the National Assembly or further damage to public security, should resign as minister of his own accord.
Rohee’s six-year tenure of office as Minister of Home Affairs has witnessed criminal violence, massacres at Bartica, Lusignan and Lindo Creek, numerous extra-judicial killings, banditry and piracy. Responsibility for every one of these underperforming sectors of public order and safety rests with the Minister of Home Affairs.
There is no doubt that Rohee has not only the ‘authority’ but also the ‘duty’ and the ‘ministerial responsibility’ to issue such ‘orders and directions’ for the command and superintendence of the Force. He is not reluctant to respond to situations and to recognize danger when he is ready.
He issued instructions to the Commissioner of Police to transfer the Commander of E & F Police Division –of which Linden is an integral part – within 24 hours of the Linden killings.
He personally met [then] Commissioner of Police Henry Greene and several levels of the Commissioner’s subordinates –Divisional Commander, George Vyphuis and senior officers, Linden Alves, Errol Watts, Clifton Hicken, and Patrick Todd –to discuss the circumstances surrounding the incident on December 6, 2011 when several volleys of rubber bullets were fired by the Police at a peaceful procession of protestors in Georgetown.
Rohee is said to have “expressed surprise over a junior rank having the authority to make such an important decision [to fire rubber bullets into a peaceful crowd].” He maintained that such a decision should have been made at a higher level, as outlined in the Force’s Standard Operating Procedures.
He told the senior police officers that “shooting at the back of some protestors is inexplicable and unacceptable [and] was another “manifestation of bad judgment by the ranks on the ground and must never be repeated.”
Rohee is said to have called on the Commissioner to “immediately put in place other best practices with respect of crowd control and the necessary corrective administrative and command control measures to avoid a repetition of that unfortunate event.”
Yet, he did not see it fit to convene a commission of inquiry into this “inexplicable and unacceptable” incident.
The Minister, therefore, did not confine his efforts to security policy; he was involved in operational matters. A GINA report of 23rd July 2012, five days after the killings, confirmed the fact that: “From a public order point of view, the Ministry of Home Affairs was tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the situation on a day-by-day basis, which meant keeping close observation of the protestors, the cause they are advancing, the slogans that were being used and to check whether or not they were targeting any specific individual or institution.”
Rohee, during his six-year tenure of office as Minister of Home Affairs, witnessed several massacres. The first was at Lusignan on the East Coast in January 2008 where 11 persons were killed; the second was at Bartica in the Essequibo River in February 2008 where 12 persons were killed and the third occurred at Lindo Creek in the Berbice River in June 2008 where eight persons were killed.
Yet, Rohee convened no commissions of inquiry over the past four years to investigate these atrocities and bring the assailants to justice. The victims’ families, even now, have received no satisfactory answers from the minister who is responsible for human safety!
Rohee, nevertheless, is aware of his limitations. He admitted, in the wake of the Lusignan and Bartica massacres, that “Government is cognizant of the Security Forces’ shortcomings.” He promised that: “Several aspects of the Government of Guyana-United Kingdom Security Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) will be implemented by month-end [February 2008]…A British expert is expected in the country by month-end to begin the training aspect.” This never happened!
The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration and its Minister of Home Affairs, instead of implementing the Security Sector Reform Action Plan, discarded it.
The entire country is suffering from PPP/C’s recklessness yet, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, its chief spokesman threatens to “rumble” in order to keep Rohee in his position.
Dr. Luncheon, in an unforgettably unintelligent utterance on 11th October, ignited the ‘October riot’ at Agricola on the East Bank. He told the media on that fateful day that, with regard to the PPP/C’s “support of our position on Minister Rohee’s retention as Cabinet Minister and as Minister of Home Affairs…As Muhammad Ali said, let’s get ready for the rumble.”
While the PPPC and Rohee get ready to rumble, however, Guyana bleeds and citizens suffer from violent crime.
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