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Resisting help for the police
Dear Editor,
A dogmatic government is resisting any attempt at police reforms. Decades of government failure to provide effective police for its people is nothing new. With much fanfare the government had rejected substantial UK funding to train Guyana’s police force in 2009.
Government then went on the attack and, accused the UK of interfering and trampling on its sovereignty and its internal affairs. ‘The British Government defended its decision to withdraw assistance for a joint £4.9M security sector project, saying the latest proposal by the Government of Guyana (GoG) moves away from comprehensive reforms originally requested’ (SN, October 29, 2009).
The UK was left with no option but to withdraw the funding and give it to another Caribbean country that had valued police protection above entrenched political dogmas and ideologies. Guyana was then left mired in serious crimes. Violence, murders and rapes went on the increase, and police protection was equated as no better than being protected by criminals.
However, the misguided government is still dogmatically resisting any comprehensive police reforms. It is now tinkering with security ‘administration, succession planning, integrity/probity and public relations/communications’ to fool the public. This has nothing with the crucial lack of police training and accountability concerning people on the ground and it does not compensate for proper police training.
However Guyana’s taxpayers are once again forced to pay for a service that is not rocket science to anyone else, except to an inept Guyana government.
Taxpayers will now have to foot the bill for $25M for a ‘six-week’ consultancy from a UK firm on security. GINA said that the contract, valued US$129,750 or approximately $25M, is expected to last about four to six weeks, focusing on administration, succession planning, integrity/probity, and public relations/communications’. (SN, January 28, 2013).
This serves to widen the chasm between government policy and the greater needs for security and public protection.
Mac Mahase
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