ROAR leader Ravi Dev says that instead of engaging in civilian operations the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) only duty should be to maintain and protect Guyana’s borders.

But he says this cannot be done if the army is not properly organised and funded.

“The Guyana Defence Force ought to play a bigger role than it does today and it needs huge resources [to do so],” Dev said, defending the Rise Organise and Rebuild Guyana Movement’s (ROAR) submissions before the Disciplined Forces Commission yesterday.

The commission was set up by the National Assembly to review the operations of the Disciplined Services, including the defence force and the police force. It will give priority to its investigation of the police and will submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Assembly.

Justice of Appeal Ian Chang chairs the Commission, while 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 are the other members.

Dev said the army’s role to maintain and protect the country’s territorial integrity was vital because of the border violations and incursions by Suriname and Venezuela which he said were accepted “far too blithely”.

ROAR proposes that apart from more funding, army bases should be exclusively established at sites along the border. Dev was critical of the location of army bases, which he said were placed primarily in civilian areas to protect key institutions. Although he admitted that there were border camps he said these were not adequate to address the threats.

Among ROAR’s other proposals is having the GDF free of government involvement which he warned must not extend into its operational parameters. He said that the army, like the police force, should be allowed to do its work independently, and he criticised the past political involvement that had made it “ineffective”.

Meanwhile, according to ROAR, ineffectiveness in the police force is a result of its centralised structure. To decentralise the force the party has proposed that it be split into six separate forces which would each have their own commissioner and separate command structure. These forces would be in Metro-Georgetown, Demerara, Berbice, Essequibo, Rupununi and a Central Force which would oversee a central forensic lab, the anti-drug unit and co-ordination with international agencies and foreign police bodies. Dev said policing needs differed around the country and urban areas like Georgetown had its own unique crimes which varied from the Rupununi.

Although ROAR says in its submissions that administrative effectiveness is not the sole test of police competence, Dev considered the failure of the police force to deal with the situation in Buxton as resulting from the government’s mismanagement of the force and its failure to develop a proper policing strategy.

ROAR has also recommended that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) be encouraged to establish a presence in Guyana, to assist in establishing, recruiting, training and maintaining an anti-drug agency.

“...Absolutely no role (for the army) in maintaining order in the country?” Bernard de Santos, SC, the legal counsel for the police asked Dev.

“Yes,” Dev responded, saying that instead the Guyana People’s Militia should be resuscitated and used as an auxiliary to the police in this role.

Dev was asked to rationalise relieving the army of its provisional internal security duties [under the Defence Act] in the wake of the experience of the police in Buxton, where they were unable to function during the crime wave during the past year.

He said the responsibility for a response to such extreme criminal situations would lie in the creation of a Special Weapons And Tactical (SWAT) unit. This unit is envisaged to replace the Anti Crime Task Force or `Black Clothes’ squad.

But he acknowledged that the Black Clothes were allowed to exceed their mandate by the government which did not want to address the problems in the force and instead granted them leeway.

Dev said the creation of the SWAT unit ought to take into consideration the failures of the `Black Clothes’ whose operational guidelines remain shrouded in secrecy.

“[But] we feel the unit is needed as crime continues. Only last night another man was executed...”

However, apart from setting up a Parliamentary Committee, to which he said all the Disciplined Forces would be accountable, Dev says an Internal Affairs Bureau should be set up to investigate corruption within the force.