Top Cop urges stakeholders to embrace Security Sector Reform Action Plan

Oct 24, 2016 News

Acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine is urging his ranks and officials who have concerns about security matters to embrace the recommendations of the consultants of the Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) who are expected in Guyana soon.
He said on Saturday during a press briefing that President David Granger has reminded the nation on many occasions that the British consultants are going to be in Guyana and their main focus will be the GPF.
Ramnarine said that in the past he had taken the opportunity to indicate to divisional and branch commanders, other officers and junior ranks that the way forward for the GPF is through qualitative leadership and not quantitative leadership.
“I have said to them that this is a reform that we have to embrace, that we need, that our country needs and I have asked them to understand immediately that the consultants, as his Excellency indicated, are going to be here for one year.”
Ramnarine said that he has asked ranks to be aware of their roles and be cognizant of the new trends in society. He also said that officers need to have an idea as to what kind of police force they want. He also said that officers need to be reminded that they took an oath to serve.

Acting Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine

The Acting Commissioner of Police went on to say that those who have made recent statements about the crime situation and about things that are wrong in the police force should also express their views to the consultants.
He said that critics have been quite ubiquitous with their statements. He said that when the consultants arrive, those persons will have an opportunity to make known their views.
According to him, this process will ensure that Guyana, in a holistic way, benefits from the much improved GPF with the view of bringing relief to public safety and security.
Ramnarine said that the issue of Reform was first discussed in 1998 when two British consultants visited. He recalled that after the individuals engaged with citizens and ranks of the force, they relayed to him that there are a lot of issues affecting the force.
“They said to me, you know David, you guys have a lot of issues in this country, and you have a lot of issues in the police force but one of the greatest challenges we have easily picked up is this, they said hundreds of officers and ranks were able to easily identify the problems in the force, but if we asked and gotten answers as to how many were willing to be a part of the solution to the problems, we couldn’t find five.”
Following a bilateral meeting with Baroness Joyce Anelay, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, President David Granger had said that the SSRAP will soon be operationalized.
He had said that over the 16 months which his coalition government has been in office, there has been a lot of progress to get the programme up and running again.
The United Kingdom government had sourced a large sum to finance the project. However, the SSRAP had come to a halt when the former People’s Progressive Party Civic government had accused the British for wanting to interfere with the sovereignty of the country.
The original plan was developed since 2006 and was to be implemented in 2009, together with a three-year capacity building plan for a National Security Committee in the National Assembly between 2007 and 2009.
Security Sector Reform was seen as critical for the achievement of good and democratic governance and was twinned with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s sponsorship of the needs assessment of the National Assembly which was conducted by Sir Michael Davies, together with the recommendations which flowed from 2005.

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