Dr. Roger Luncheon at DFC hearings...
Budgetary limitations impact on security spending
By Nivedta Kowlessar
Guyana Chronicle
November 15, 2003
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, yesterday said the Government has been relying "almost totally" on national resources to finance the Police and Army and has been constrained by budgetary limitations.
At a public inquiry into the disciplined forces, Luncheon, who is also Secretary to the Defence Board, said the Government is constrained by a funding programme which limits the percentage of the national budget dedicated to national security, particularly the military.
He said this, and the lack of support from the international donor community and financial institutions for the defence sector, are the reasons for an "apparent lean attitude" in the context of the rising crime rate.
Luncheon was responding to a query from Ms. Maggie Bierne, member of the Defence Forces Commission, which is conducting the inquiry. Police top brass, appearing before the Commission over the past two weeks, said they had inadequate resources to tackle the changing nature of crime - increased narcotics trafficking, arms, ammunition and alien smuggling - confronting the country.
According to Luncheon, the Government recognizes that it has responsibility for funding the Police and Army and this commitment is "cast in stone". But he explained that available funds have to be distributed "across a number of heads", including employment costs, and this makes room for manoeuvring like that "between a rock and a hard place."
He said the administration has been doing the best it could and has received military hardware gifts from bilateral and multilateral partners. However, efforts to secure financing for civilian security from the international donor community and financial institutions have been "most unfruitful", he reported.
Luncheon said debt relief has a major role to play in having more money available and would lessen the pressure on the national budget.
Commenting on the functioning of the Joint Services (comprising mainly the Police and Army), he said there is some work to be done to make the concept work and to address operational and intelligence deficiencies.
Luncheon said "significant weaknesses" were identified in the handling of the recent situation at Buxton, East Coast Demerara, where notorious criminals were hiding and spearheaded violent criminal acts for months.
The authorities, he noted, was not innovative in dealing with a novel situation and held "an unusual amount of faith" that standard remedies would have worked.
Luncheon told the Commission there is "tremendous work" to be done to make the Joint Services more efficient and the Government is committed to the concept "come heaven or high water".
The Commission heard from Luncheon and Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, at the afternoon hearing, following which it went into recess. A preliminary report is pending.
The body was appointed in June to investigate the Police, Army, Prison and Fire Services. It was mandated to treat the Police inquiry with priority and make recommendations within three months.
Sitting with Chairman, Appeal Court Judge, Ian Chang, were Senior Counsel, Charles Ramson, Brigadier (ret'd) David Granger, Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall and Bierne, a member of the Commission for the Administration of Justice in Northern Ireland.