Role of Forensic Lab to improve with amended Evidence Act

Apr 11, 2017 News

An amendment to the Evidence Act is on the cards. It will help to improve the role of the Forensic Laboratory and by extension serve to make the work of the Guyana Police Force more efficient.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan

This is according to Second Vice President and Minister of Public Security, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, who during an interview with this publication revealed that while the Laboratory is being utilised it still has not reached its full capacity.
“They are doing a lot of comparison work when asked by the Police Force in relation to counterfeit coins or currency; they are doing blood type testing and a number of other things,” said Ramjattan.
However, one of the primary tasks that the laboratory should have long been undertaking was that of bio-fluid and Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) tests. But according to the Minister of Public Security,” it still has not yet reached the stage for DNA testing.”
In the quest to make the Laboratory more efficient, Ramjattan said, “What we have now done is to start to put measures in place to ensure that our certificates are going to be admissible in the court of law by virtue of the amendments into the Evidence Act.”
He explained, “Right now when [the lab] does the tests requested by the police officers they have to literally go to court [and ask for the tests to be accepted]. We are trying our best now to ensure that our certificates can be used in the court so that a lot of our officers would not have to waste time in court. To address this requires an amendment to the Evidence Act.”
According to Ramjattan, already the amendment for the Evidence Act is before Cabinet after which it will be taken to Parliament. Once the amendment is passed, “if the lab tests for human blood and concludes that it is type ‘A’ that will be tendered by the police in much the same way as a police medical certificate is tendered.”
Built under the Citizens Security Programme representing a collaborative effort between Government and the Inter-American Development Bank, the laboratory featured a billion dollar construction cost and was commissioned in 2014.
Currently, Minister Ramjattan said that the laboratory has been collaborating with a number of relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Public Health, to ensure quality of tests. But according to the Minister personnel of the laboratory have also gained specialist training in the United States and a number of other places. He informed too, “They have continued that training because you don’t want it to be too much under a Ministry.
“What we are going to do is to do the budgetary allocations because it has to be financed and so on and whatever necessary policy the Minister will be involved…but their operational activity will be exclusively done by the science officers and the scientists there.”
Minister Ramjattan noted that the laboratory is an independent institution managed by a Chief Executive Officer. “They have their protocols in relations to the works done in the Forensic Lab and all I ask is that we work towards having the highest possible standards.”
He, however, added, “I am very satisfied to the extent of what is being done there but there is room for more improvements.”
“I have asked for a report to be done on the Forensic Lab by an international expert and that is being done. The report on that assessment and recommendation will be coming out very soon,” the Minister informed.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News