The PPP General Secretary, Donald Ramotar yesterday said that making the police force more reflective of the population would go a long way to inspiring public confidence in its efficiency.

He was at the time defending his party’s submissions before the Disciplined Forces Commission.

The PPP has asked the commission to consider its recommendations to restore public confidence in the police force, which it says has managed to do a commendable job despite limited resources.

Besides its support for greater resource allocation to the Force, the Party has identified ethnic balancing as one of the solutions.

The Commission of Enquiry was set up by the National Assembly to review the operations of the disciplined services and primarily the GPF on which it will submit a report of its findings and recommendations.

Justice of Appeal Ian Chang chairs the commission which includes former Attorney General Charles Ramson SC; former National Security Adviser, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger; attorney-at-law, Anil Nandlall and Irish human rights activist, Maggie Beirne.

The PPP says the rationale behind making the forces more reflective of the population makeup, aside from restoring public confidence, is to ensure that they can deal with politically-inspired violence, an issue about which there are some doubts.

Ramotar denied government interference in the police force and instead said this had been a legacy of the former PNC government which he accused of still trying to politicise the force through “racial sentimentality”.

He said this, coupled with the response of the police force and the army to politically inspired violence, had eroded public confidence and created ethnic suspicion.

“It is the firm conviction of the PPP that of all the factors that have impacted negatively on public confidence in the disciplined forces, their handling of politically-inspired violence has become their Achilles heel,” the submission stated.

It is in this vein that the party justifies its proposals for the forces to be more reflective of the population makeup.

But the PPP did not identify mechanisms to achieve the ethnic balance of the forces but said it would be willing to make detailed contributions on the issue at an appropriate time.

Ramotar told the Commission that the party would advocate targeted or decentralised recruitment, or a form of affirmative action to achieve balance or inclusiveness. He identified dietary, religious and general cultural considerations as such factors which might not be considered at the moment. And while he said the party was not favourable of a quota system, it could be explored as a last resort.

Meanwhile he said the force should be commended for its performance over the last year when there was a spiralling crime wave. He said taking into consideration the changes in crime and the need for the force to adapt to deal with the situation it was deserving of commendation for its response.

He said limited resources prevented the force from handling crime effectively, citing this as the major constraint in the fight against the narcotics trade. He identified the trade as the central crime problem facing the country.

“To what extent has the administration put in place resources to deal with the problem of narco-trafficking?” Granger asked.

Ramotar said there had been greater budgetary allocations to fight all types of crime...”I am not saying it is sufficient...” he said, adding that allocations had been increasing and other plans were being put in place to deal with the problem.

Meanwhile, extra-judicial executions, according to the party’s arguments were “political killings” usually associated with dictatorial regimes which used the security forces to perpetuate its stay in office. Ramotar said this was a feature of the former PNC government but rejected assertions that it was a feature of the current administration.

“The problems originated in the previous administration abusing the disciplined forces...” he said, while defending the party’s outline of the origin, course and development of the extra-judicial killings and summary executions.

The Commission’s legal advisor Bertlyn Reynolds asked him to address the documented evidence of groups such as the Guyana Human Rights Association which notes the current high rate of extra judicial executions. By Reynolds’ definition of extra-judicial executions these were killings perpetrated by members of the force, not as a result of an order of the court therefore denying the victim due process of the law.

“I don’t know if I have enough evidence,” Ramotar said, “...What has been happening recently are mere allegations and there is not a great amount of evidence... We need to have evidence to [show] that these things are extra-judicial killings...”

Later, Granger asked Ramotar, “How can we bring extra-judicial killings to an end...?”

“We are very well on the road. We are building a system where people must be answerable to the electorate... they cannot conduct themselves as though they are untouchable... there has not been a political killing since the PPP got into office.”

On the issue of guns and gun licences, Ramotar reiterated his party’s support for the status quo in distribution, and its belief that the proper procedures were being “enforced by the competent authorities.” Further, it lauds the administration for its efforts to increase the ability of citizens to protect their lives and property. But it also notes that the number of licenced firearm holders has been increasing and the resulting need for more monitoring. Moreover, Ramotar said there was also need for greater transparency and public awareness of the issues involved in the distribution of guns and licences, which were misunderstood.

It noted the need for a comprehensive approach to stop the illegal entry of arms into the country and to confiscate those already in circulation. Ramotar said that it could be concluded that there were a significant number of illegal guns in circulation, from the evidence in the recent spate of robberies where AK-47s and M-70s were used. Apart from the role of the police, he said appeals to morality might be one of the ways of dealing with this issue. “But one of the big problems is that criminals will not willingly give up their guns.”

In light of his submissions, Beirne asked Ramotar if the high number of firearms was a problem that needs to be addressed. He cited the recent crime wave as an example where businessmen felt a need to defend themselves. He said the party did not expect licences to be granted “willy-nilly’ but had always supported giving the citizenry the ability to protect itself.

“[But] isn’t it short sighted to respond to violence by putting more guns in the system?” Beirne asked.

“The jury is still out on that one,” Ramotar replied, arguing that there had been no evidence to suggest that an increase in licenced firearms would either increase or reduce violence in society.