The gun amnesty begins today Programme will not work in Guyana—Rohee

Sep 01, 2015 News

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General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Clement Rohee, believes that the gun amnesty which commences today, will not yield the desired success that the new coalition administration is seeking.
Rohee, who was the Home Affairs Minister, up to May, told a press conference yesterday that local experts had already agreed that such a programme could not work in Guyana. He said that it was on that basis that the previous administration did not go that route.
The Ministry of Public Security by way of an advertisement in the media and public statements from Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, has announced a one-month amnesty aimed at reducing the number of illegal firearms from the streets.
Under the amnesty, persons are offered the opportunity to surrender any firearm, ammunition or explosive to the Commissioner of Police at listed police stations or to any police officer during the period September 1 to September 30.
But according to Rohee, such a programme is bound to fail, since all the law enforcement agencies were not supportive.
“While I was at the then Ministry of Home Affairs a Task Force on Narcotics and Illegal Firearms was established. Members of the Task Force were drawn from the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Revenue Authority and CANU among others in the Disciplined Services. The Task Force had lengthy discussions on the efficacy of a gun amnesty.
“The overwhelming majority of members, save one, including the representative of the Guyana Police Force, were of the view that a gun amnesty will not work in Guyana and it will fail. That is precisely why the Ministry never pushed it forward,” Rohee said.
“Now that Ramjattan has decided to pursue this matter it is assumed that the law enforcement agencies have changed their earlier position and have advised Ramjattan accordingly.
The one-month trial period effective from September 1, 2015, will validate the earlier position of the Ministry of Home Affairs Task Force and international experience as regards the efficacy of a gun amnesty and its applicability under Guyana’s local conditions. Whether all those who have illegal/unlicensed firearm will cooperate is another matter,” Rohee added.
He added that international experience also influenced his decision not to pursue the matter.
According to Rohee, similar programmes were tried in various forms and fashions in many countries of the world with various levels of success; in most cases the programmes did not reach the anticipated success.
He said that this was the case in Argentina, Australia, Brazil and nine states in the United States of America. But according to one firearm expert, this

assessment is not entirely accurate.
The experts told this newspaper that in 1998, a gun amnesty programme in Barbados saw the recovery of close to 200 illegal guns in a three-week period.
He also referred to an amnesty in Brooklyn a few years ago that resulted in 300 illegal firearms being turned in.
Last year Staffordshire police gun amnesty collected more than 200 firearms.
Among the haul were 59 shotguns, 26 handguns, 17 revolvers and six rifles, with a range of air weapons and assorted ammunition also given up.
But former Home Affairs Minister Rohee believes that the current administration appears to be split on the issue of amnesty.
“For over two months now there has been a lot of shilly-shallying by the Ministry of Public Security on the methodology to be used to get its act together on the gun amnesty programme. Earlier, the public was informed that a faith-based organization will be the depository for the guns to be handed in.
The recent advertisement showed a departure from this arrangement. Now police stations will be the depositories while a faith-based organization will play the oversight role,” Rohee said.
He pointed out that President David Granger himself had admitted that a gun amnesty programme will not succeed in Guyana.
“He stated publicly that he was not in favour of a gun amnesty. He said it would not work in Guyana.
Granger had earlier expressed a preference for strong ‘intelligence’ and ‘enforcement’ instead. ‘Amnesty’ wouldn’t bring us the desired results he had declared! Now under pressure, Granger has somersaulted and has come out in support of the Amnesty programme,” the PPP General Secretary stated.
“Ramjattan is proceeding headlong into the Amnesty quagmire notwithstanding the earlier warnings from Granger and others about going in that direction. He intended to prove Granger wrong, that’s why Granger had to shift gear and express his support for the programme,” Rohee added.

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