Stabroek News
June 14, 2001

PNC REFORM Leader Desmond Hoyte has criticized the performance of the Guyana Police Force and the actions of the President during the recent anti-crime demonstrations at Albion.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Hoyte said that the recent incidents at Albion spoke volumes about the leadership, control and professionalism of the Guyana Police force which he said stood by impotently as protesters went on the rampage. He described the Police Force as the "do nothing police."

"It was only when the mob actually set fire to the Police station while attempting to storm it that they took fright and discharged their weapons. They did nothing when the mob assaulted a Magistrate and torched his car and put the Minister of Home Affairs to flight with a hail of stones. They did nothing when these people blocked the highway and lit fires on them.

They did nothing when they stopped mini buses and subjected the drivers and passengers to physical and verbal abuse."

Hoyte noted that "in spite of the many serious breaches of the law which took place at Albion not a single person has been arrested or charged with any offence!"

He also questioned the legality of President Bharrat Jagdeo's actions when he visited the region following the protests.

The President had ordered the immediate transfer of all the Police ranks at the Albion Police Station and undertook to issue firearms to certain community members. He further undertook to have armed community policing groups organized in the surrounding villages.

According to Hoyte, the President had no legal authority to issue or to promise to issue firearm licences or to direct that these be issued to anybody. Nor did he have the authority to arm "vigilante" groups.

Under the Police Act Chapter 16:1 it is the Minister of Home Affairs and not the President who has the power to issue "general orders and directions" to the Commissioner of Police, Hoyte said. However, the responsibility for the operations of the Police Force lies exclusively with the Commissioner of Police.

The PNC/R Leader stressed that the "command and superintendence of the Force" was vested in the Commissioner by statute while noting that the Laws of Guyana "have been designed to prevent the Police Force from becoming a tool of any Political Directorate."

Hoyte went on to argue that the issuance of firearm licences was regulated by the Firearms Act, Chapter 16:5, which states that only a prescribed officer is authorized to issue a licence. "Suffice it to say, the President is not such a prescribed officer."

The Office of the President reacted on the same day by issuing a statement which said that "the PNC's constant unjustified attacks against the law enforcement agency seem intended to demoralize members of the police force and undermine public confidence in their performance."

With respect to President Jagdeo's remarks on the conduct of the police at Albion, the statement pointed out that "the President made clear the fact that the protest against the police relate to the behaviour of a few ranks in the force and not that of the entire force."

The statement also argued that as "a democratically elected President, His Excellency reserves the right to freely intervene and address concerns of any and all Guyanese."

It also pointed out that the president had previously stated that the resort to violence and disruption as types of protest were "unacceptable in any situation".