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Cabinet still to see UK Security Sector Reform Report
President David Granger (right) receiving the report from British security expert, Russell Combe in January.
The final Report of the Security Sector Reform Project (SSRP) which was prepared by British security expert, Lt. Col (Ret’d) Russell Combe is still to be discussed at the level of Cabinet.
Combe handed over the report on January 18, last, to President David Granger, who hailed it as a monumental achievement for the coalition administration. Granger said that it aimed at addressing the root causes of crime and correcting the errors of over two decades of mismanagement of the security sector.
Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, was asked by Kaieteur News whether implementation had started. He stated that the report is still with the President and has not been submitted to Cabinet.
“As you can see the President has been busy. I know he will bring the report to Cabinet shortly. When he does we will discuss it in full. We have to wait,” Ramjattan explained.
The President has been critical of the former governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), pointing out that they have essentially ignored recommendations to improve the security sector over the years.
He reminded that the US$4.7B programme was initially scrapped in 2009 by the PPP Administration after the British Government had requested to have oversight of the programme, to ensure that there was ‘value for money’.
Granger noted that a number of Bills were passed in the National Assembly, various reports were submitted, but they were generally ignored. Ramjattan assured that the president is not ignoring the report, but it is a matter of time.
President Granger had indicated that in 2016 he met former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, and made a request for security sector reform.
Cameron agreed by facilitating Combe, an expert from the Olive Group, which was contracted by Engineering, Design, Construction, Management (AECOM), on behalf of the United Kingdom Government.
Granger had said that the previous plans focused on the symptoms of crime rather than the root cause which, at that time, was narcotics trafficking. Granger had said that crime escalated because of the growing narcotics trafficking, which brought with it a horrific spate of violence that Guyana had never seen before.
Combe, whose office was housed at the Ministry of the Presidency during his one-year tenure in Guyana, has received a commitment from the President that he will get a further contract extension through to 2019 to help implement the recommendations contained in the report.
According to Combe, the report is a dynamic document that builds upon previous work and also a reference document for the various security sector players and actors.
He noted that the report places emphasis on the Police Force. It includes recommendations for improvement of the criminal justice system, the Guyana Coast Guard and the Guyana Prison Service.
The UK, Combe outlined, doesn’t want to see the report sitting on the shelf gathering dust.
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