Parliamentary debate…Ramjattan, Rohee trade shots over crime situation

May 06, 2016 News

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By Jarryl Bryan
At Wednesday evening’s sitting of the National Assembly, a debate on the crime situation quickly

spiraled into a war of words between Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and his immediate predecessor in that office, Clement Rohee.
In detailing some of the problems the Government faces in fighting crime, Ramjattan stressed that the police force, despite filling over 400 vacancies in the ranks since he took office, was still short by over 1,000 ranks. According to Ramjattan, while Georgetown has been supplying recruits, attempts to recruit Berbicians into the force have been failing.
“The establishment strength (total police force ranks) has to be fulfilled. (It should be) 4,956. When I got in it was 3,400. Actual strength is (now) 3,862. We have managed to fill (462) ranks. We are more than 1,000 short and we need to fill this.”
“I personally pleaded, when I went to Berbice. Join the police force! They did not. They seem not to want to help. But we are getting better help (more recruits) in Georgetown,” he said, adding this was one way in which the chambers in the ancient county could help, by encouraging recruits.
He acknowledged that the police are paid low salaries, but stated that this is what the Government could afford with the present economy. Ramjattan stated that though approaches were made to the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, it would have been after billions were plugged into the sugar industry, and thus could not be facilitated.
Ramjattan also confronted the criticisms he had faced over his handling of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, which had lashed out at the Minister after calls for him to consult with them on the crime situation were met, with Ramjattan postponing the meeting until after the Jubilee celebrations.
The Minister read an excerpt to the assembly from the letter sent to him by the Chamber. In the letter, he stressed the part in which the Chamber asked for a meeting at a “mutually convenient time.”
According to Ramjattan, that time could only be after the Jubilee celebrations, as he was busy. This prompted heckling from the opposition benches, as they queried what he was busy with. Ramjattan, clearly indignant, insisted that he was busy with his portfolio.
“It is not that we want to abandon Berbice,” Ramjattan said. “There was a time when Berbicians used to call on Rohee. And they didn’t go!”
Rohee meanwhile stated that the statistics recently quoted by the police did not matter to the man in the street, who perceives crime as running amok. Rohee stressed that Ramjattan had to take an objective approach with the police and find out for himself what is going wrong with crime fighting, even if it meant conducting an inventory of the police’s equipment for the past ten years.
“Publishing statistics will not act as a buttress to crime. That is good for international organisations,” Rohee stated. “But we are talking about lives and living in Guyana! The Minister has to have an objective position, from what is being fed to him! Public relations will not win the war on crime.”
This drew a spirited rebuttal from Ramjattan. According to the Minister, a major hamper in the police’s operations during Rohee’s time was too much political interference, from both himself and his then government.
According to Ramjattan, this is a complaint that he was confronted with soon after taking office. Ramjattan was adamant that with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Rohee out of power, interference had ceased. Rohee and the opposition benches did not take kindly to this inference.
“In the police officers conference (2015), I stood in the presence of all the senior ranks of the police force…and I looked straight at Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine, and said if there is interference in the force list the examples and send them to me. They never did,” Rohee retorted.
Rohee also berated Ramjattan for the delay in implementing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras around the city, stating that while interventions are coming, people are dying. In addition, Rohee noted that persistent complaints have come from the Police about a lack of vehicles. He singled out ‘B’ division while making this point.
Responding to Rohee’s calls for cameras in the city, Ramjattan stated that the CCTV system would be a very expensive project to implement, estimating the costs at between US$2-3M. He noted that it would take time and careful planning, as procedures relating to disbursing the money would have to be followed. However, he stated that it was something the Ministry was working on.
Taking on Rohee’s concerns about the lack of vehicles, Ramjattan stated that tenders have gone out for vehicles and it is being addressed right now. In fact, he said that tendering processes have been causing a holdup in the vehicles.
Ramjattan also spoke about reports on the police force’s slow emergency response time. Noting that this is something the coalition inherited from the PPP, Ramjattan stated that the Ministry is collaborating with cell phone service provider Digicel and that a proposal was being prepared.
“Digicel has now come forward and we are going that way. Again, it will cost a huge amount of money and so we may very well have to come up with some sort of supplementary allocation.”
Ramjattan conceded that identifying the social ills responsible for crime is important and he pointed that at present the police force has been endeavouring to build a rapport with the citizens.
He noted that not only has this rapport aided in citizens coming forward with sensitive information to solve crime, but it has allowed the police to play a role in mentoring young ones and showing them that crime is not the answer. He commended the various divisional commanders for the role they have been playing in this regard.
Ramjattan thus sought to emphasise that the crime levels are not going to “drastically” decrease overnight, but that they have been steadily decreasing.
Commenting on the advisory that was released by Canada, cautioning its citizens about the crime in Guyana, Ramjattan stressed that this is something the Canadians have done with all Caribbean countries with the exception of Barbados. He stated that in exchanges with the Canadian High Commissioner, he was assured that the Canadian government had a duty to alert its citizens to what is going on.

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