After nearly ten months of work, the historic commission looking at reforms for the disciplined services presented its final report to the National Assembly yesterday.
The report, which contains the commission's findings and proposals for reform of the services, was handed over to Speaker of the Assembly Ralph Ramkarran, at a ceremony at Public Buildings.
Parliament set up the commission to review and make recommendations to reform the disciplined services, which is made up of the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Prison Service and the Guyana Fire Service.
Justice of Appeal Ian Chang, who chaired the commission, presented the report in the presence of former attorney-general Charles Ramson SC, former security adviser, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger and Professor Harold Lutchman, who were the other members of the panel.
Ramkarran promised the commissioners the report would be circulated in Parlia-ment as soon as sufficient copies have been produced.
He also thanked them for the time and energy they invested in the completion of the report and its prelude, an interim report on the police force that was submitted in December. The interim report was due to be completed within three months of the start of public consultations that were held by the commission to solicit countrywide input. Testimony from the forces was also accepted.
There have been suggestions that the delay in debating the report may have affected the work of the commission, which had proposed that the government draft a five-year development plan for the force to inform its final recommendations. But Justice Chang said the fact that the parties did not pronounce on the report may have been to the benefit of the commissioners, who were able to approach the final report with open minds.
Some of the recommendations in the interim report had been criticised as weak, including those related to extra-judicial killings, the issuance of gun licences, political interference in the police force and community policing groups.
The appointment of Lutchman to the commission had also been another point of contention, since it caused the PPP to declare that it would not be bound by the final report as he had testified before the Commission.