Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
“More resources should mean improved results”- Rohee tells GPF
With over $1.2 billion already expended on the nation’s security from 2004 to 2013, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that he is not satisfied with the level of control over criminal activities. The Security Minister made the statement last week, during the launch of the nation’s first ever Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and insisted to ranks of the Guyana Police Force that they need to give more results given the amount of investments being made on the resources they are receiving.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee
The Home Affairs Minister echoed calls for value for money, before expounding on what he said are significant funds being spent in the area of security. Minister Rohee said, “The Government since 1992 has been investing billions of dollars in the Guyana Police Force. Never before in the history of this organization (GPF) have so many resources, costing billions in investment, been made in this organization.”
“The Government and we at the Ministry of Home Affairs are not comfortable with the current crime rate in our country, especially as it pertains to serious crimes, and more particularly, when it is committed with the use of a firearm.”
“The crime rate must be brought down especially in light of the fact that so many resources are being placed at the disposal of Guyana Police Force,” the Minister said. “There must be no comfort level, there must be no comfort, having regard to the amount of serious crimes that are committed on the national territory of our nation. The only comfort zone we should tolerate is that zone where the citizens of Guyana are comfortable.”
“There is no crime statistic that we can live with, what matters is the results. We have to begin to get value for money “Rohee told the gathering of mostly police officers last Thursday. “With all investments being made, we need to begin seeing more and more results, the GPF have the tools to bring out good results.”
“The Government, he argued, has provided the force with these tools and they must be used for the benefit of citizens.” He continued that the Home Affairs Ministry which is the Government agency responsible for GPF with regards to policy and providing resources “has in my view delivered to the Force.”
“We’ve delivered the integrated crime information system, crime and social observatory, police and policy handling data entry clerks , CCTV cameras, computer laboratories, land and water transport, training opportunities, a strategic plan; specifically target intervention at institutional levels, regular consultations with senior managers of force and senior members of government so that policies would be easily understood. The introduction of information technology software and hardware at all levels of the force has also been provided, with general and specialized equipment.”
He urged that all this (investments) would fail if the crime rate does not go down. The Minister said that between 2004 and 2013, the Home Affairs Ministry made available to GPF specialized equipment, including those for finger prints, crime scene intelligence, ballistic, narcotic branch, photographic and writing sections to the tune of 2 billion dollars. “In respect to land and water transportation, Government provided motorcars, land rovers trucks, armored vehicles, fibre glass boats, motorcycles, water cannon, mobile police stations, communication vehicles, All Terrain Vehicles, patrol boats, -among other equipment- all to the tune of $1.2 billion.”
“These are huge investments,” Rohee emphasized. He urged all those raising criticisms about funds being placed in the GPF to re-check their numbers, but opined that it is not the amount of money being spent, “but what it is spent on and how it is used.” He said large sums being spent does not necessarily give the results that one is looking for. He reiterated that, “We need value for money.”
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