Non support for Rohee’s security plan will hurt Guyana

Jan 07, 2013 News

– Attorney General

Attorney General Anil Nandlall says that the opposition’s refusal to support the Security Sector Reform as proposed by Home Affairs Clement Rohee would be inimical to national security and the welfare of all Guyanese.
Nandlall in an interview with this newspaper yesterday afternoon said that the opposition, over the years, has always complained about security reform, the state of the security sector and repeatedly called for improvements.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall

According to Nandlall, government through the Ministry of Home Affairs is attempting to implement these reforms and bring improvements to the security sector.
The AG said that with this new plan, every Guyanese, moreso the political and national leaders, should lend support to it. Nandlall said that it is most unfortunate that the two parliamentary opposition parties are practicing “petty political grievances” at the expense of the people’s welfare.
At present, the Attorney General said that there are several security reform projects which are in the pipeline. He said that this includes legislation, all of which are vital to the modernization of the security sector. Nandlall said that all this would bring the much needed improvement to the area. The Attorney General urged that the two parties put aside their respective political agendae and just try to consider what is right.
Last Thursday, Opposition Leader David Granger said that his party will not be supporting any security plan which is being put forward by Minister Clement Rohee, considering the no confidence motion against him, which was passed by the National Assembly.
According to Granger, that elaborate security plan which was outlined in a statement by the Minister on Old Year’s Day, was something on the cards for about 21 months, “it (statement) has nothing new.”
Granger opined that there is need to examine the cause of crime, drugs and gun smuggling. “These serious issues are not being addressed by Rohee; instead he was talking about traffic accidents.”
Granger demanded that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration “stop misleading the public, fiddling with the police and playing with new labels.”
He said that they should instead introduce with a matter of urgency, a serious security strategy to protect the country’s citizens from criminal violence.
According to Granger, Rohee deliberately avoided references at his December 31, 2012 Press Conference, to the high rate of armed robberies, contraband-smuggling, gun-running, money-laundering, narcotics-trafficking, people-trafficking, piracy and banditry plaguing the country. He said that the Minister’s so-called ‘plan’ failed to provide assurances that human safety will be enhanced and police conduct and performance will be improved.
Granger further emphasised that his party demands that the Capita-Symonds Report – which was handed over to Rohee in March 2011, and now forms the basis of the new ‘plan’ – be laid before the National Assembly.
He said that the report should also be published in the various media so that the public could read its contents and assess its relevance to crime-fighting and the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Guyana Police Force.
Granger pointed out that there has been no shortage of so-called plans for security sector reform by the PPP/C administration over the past 12 years. He said that these efforts, however, have been deliberately derailed, and not one of them has been fully implemented.