CONFRONTING TERRORIST THREATS

Jun 07, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists

In his Two Treaties of Government published anonymously in 1689, the English Philosopher, John Locke, stated that the primary responsibility of all governments is to protect life, liberty and, above all, property. Whenever governments fail to protect these rights, they should be replaced.

This government should heed this warning and stop the blame game on crime, especially armed robberies and murders and develop strategies that are proactive to prevent them and the new terrorist threats.
Guyana is facing terrorist threats from within the nation and the government must take swift action to weed it out before it spreads. The recent incident of a grenade being thrown at the vehicle of the publisher of Kaieteur News is clearly an act of terrorism. Kaieteur News is the nation’s largest newspaper entity and if it is not secured, then the country is also not secured.
While it is difficult to read the minds of criminals and terrorists, those whose lives are threatened by them should take it seriously and report to the police because in some cases, perceived threats tend to become reality. The senior management of Kaieteur News has taken the issue very seriously and has reported it to the police.
Four years ago, Kaieteur News Publisher had asked for the company’s revoked firearm licences to be reinstated. Until now, it has not happened despite several pleas to the Minister of State and the Minister of Public Security.
This newspaper entity endured the death of five of its pressmen at Eccles in 2008 and has since been the target of many death threats, including one by the former Attorney General who as the leading law enforcement officer of the country has stated that the staff of Kaieteur News was in danger. He beckoned a senior reporter to leave Kaieteur News by trying to convince him that there will be a vicious attack against the newspaper.
That said, the PPP administration suffered its first major electoral defeat in 23 years due largely to its manifest failures to provide sufficient protection to the public from crime and violence. Not to mention its threats against the privately owned newspapers, especially Kaieteur News.
The people had hoped that the Minister of Public Security would recognize and acknowledge that the inherited institutional structures and operational settings of his Ministry are not functioning efficiently. Drastic changes have to be made, including better collaboration between the police and the people in order to regain their trust and confidence.
Part of the Ministry of Public Security should be reconfigured with a new operational philosophy that focuses on fighting crime including terrorism with the primary functions and operational objectives to promote and protect the safety and security of the citizenry.
It should establish a Department of Community-based Crime Reduction and Terrorist Prevention Department to deal specifically with crime and terrorism. This department will have as its central mandate, the task of identifying and researching the criminogenic factors affecting the safety and security of the communities and the formation of criminal and terrorist activities.
The strategic outcomes of which should inform the national community-based crime reduction and terrorist prevention policies, actionable by the implementation of programmes and projects to support them. It must include the people and all other stakeholders to aid the government in crime fighting.
International training and capacity building are necessary for the effective and efficient operational deployment of this new conceptual framework engineered and designed to positively impact crime, terrorism and the general insecurity challenge confronting the nation.
As such, the safety and security of the citizens in their communities and in public and private sectors should be the focal operational objectives of the security agencies. The police and the security forces should be supported by the Judiciary to provide significant strategic support to counter terrorist and criminal acts and maintain law and order in society.