Trade unionist tells DFC...
'Ethnic balance is goal we can aspire to'
By Nivedta Kowlessar
Guyana Chronicle
September 5, 2003
TRADE unionist, Leslie Melville, yesterday told the Disciplined Forces Commission investigating the country's disciplined services that the problem of ethnic imbalance in the Police Force cannot be addressed without considering disparities in the national context.
"(Racial balance) is a goal that we can aspire to," Melville advised during an almost three-hour hearing at the Supreme Court Library in Georgetown, where the Commission has been conducting the public inquiry.
Under extensive grilling, the Industrial Relations and Education Consultant, representing the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), insisted that the matter cannot be dealt with "in isolation" or in the short or medium term, warning that such an approach "will create a problem the country cannot afford."
But the Commission, chaired by Senior Counsel, Ian Chang, sought a much clearer view from Melville, with the aim of meeting its mandate to review the ethnic composition of the disciplined forces to achieve greater balance.
Melville contended that the problem did not emerge through discrimination, but the historical interplay of social and economic forces that caused Africans to become salary/wage earners and East Indians, tillers of the land.
"If we're going to change this imbalance, we have to be very careful how we're going to do it," Melville told the Commission in between sips of water.
The one-time Police lecturer said the answer lies with more job creation and expansion of the economy, which will give a certain section of the population more options.
He opposed the idea of a quota system, but suggested a competitive approach, with positions being advertised and the best applicant recruited.
A large portion of the hearing was also devoted to Melville's views on unionisation of Police personnel, whom he feels must have rights, such as to bargain collectively for better salary and working conditions.
Chang and commissioners raised the question of limits to such freedoms, given the local affinity between unions and political parties, and the public duties of the Police.
Melville also spoke against having officers holding senior positions after retirement, arguing that unless there is upward mobility of other staff, there will be frustration, inefficiency, low performance and bad reputation.
Questioned by legal advisor, Bertlyn Reynolds, on extra judicial killings, a major criticism leveled at the Force, Melville said the situation had "gotten out of control" with an approach that the "only way to deal with criminals was to behave like criminals".
He said there were no inquiries into several incidents, stating, "we cannot have a Police Force being tarnished by those things" and such a situation was not good for the country, and would not attract tourists or investment.
Melville diagnosed a "major deficiency" in communication and recommended personnel be trained every six months or yearly to deal with new challenges, and work according to established rules to ensure transparency.
In its recommendations to the Commission, the GPSU listed the restoration of professionalism; improved remuneration, equipment and facilities; structural enforcement and no political interference; the withdrawal of all firearms from the public and the use of new criteria for their issue; and a review of all extra-judicial killings for possible legal action.
Conducting the hearings with Chang are Senior Counsel, Charles Ramson, Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall, Brigadier (retired), David Granger and Maggie Bierne, a member of the Commission for the Administration of Justice in Northern Ireland.
The inquiry fulfills a measure in the Joint Communiqué signed in May by President Bharrat Jagdeo and Mr. Robert Corbin, Leader of the Opposition and People's National Congress/Reform.