PNCR votes with govt. to approve DFC reports
Kaieteur News
July 9, 2004
The National Assembly approved the interim and final reports of the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC), yesterday, at a sitting, which saw the main opposition, PNCR returning to Parliament after an absence of almost four months.
The PNCR said that it was returning to Parliament to debate the DFC findings.
Both the government parliamentarians and the PNCR supported the approval of the reports.
PNCR Member of Parliament, Raphael Trotman moved a motion that the National Assembly refers the reports to a Special Select Committee for review within a period of four months.
Trotman requested that after the revision period, the Special Select Committee will report to the National Assembly as to the manner in which the recommendations are accepted and ought to be implemented.
This includes which committee in the National Assembly will monitor the implementation.
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin told the House that the DFC is an example of the PNCR’s willingness to compromise.
He noted that the ruling PPP/C had requested that the mandate of the DFC be expanded to include other areas that were eventually agreed to by the PNCR.
“There is still time for Guyana to be rescued from anarchy,” Corbin said. “It is time for those in the corridors of power to see that national cohesion is priority…that the right to life is sacrosanct.
“We [the PNCR] have a duty to our constituency that if things are not done the way they should, we will not be part of the system. I hope our participation in Parliament will wake up those ostriches so that we could address the problems facing the nation in a responsible way.”
But all this did not happen before Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran abruptly adjourned the sitting seventeen minutes into the session, when he was disturbed by heckling from the PNCR benches.
The Speaker was at the time explaining his ruling on an adjournment motion presented by Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin on March 15, 2004, the last session attended by the PNCR.
The Speaker singled out PNCR MP Deborah Backer to warn that he would be forced to eject her from the National Assembly if the heckling persisted.
He then vacated his seat when the noise continued from the PNCR benches. He remained in his chambers for some 20 minutes before reconvening the sitting.
But while he remained off the bench, he met with the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs. This was followed by a meeting with Corbin and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Reepu Daman Persaud.
The sitting subsequently recommenced at 14:37 hrs with the heckling notably absent.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds acting as Home Affairs Minister, welcomed the PNCR members back to Parliament and urged them to support the reports.
He noted that the DFC was established out of an amendment of the Constitution, and was facilitated by the dialogue between the President and the Opposition Leader.
He recalled there were some contentions surrounding the establishment of the DFC but called on all stakeholders to accept the report as a non-partisan approach to address public safety.
The DFC was required to enquire into the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Prison Service and the Guyana Fire Service and to make recommendations for their reform and professional development.
The Prime Minister noted that there has been a troubled history between the disciplined forces and the PPP. He stated that no other group has been more critical of the disciplined forces.
Experience has shown that the disciplined forces were reluctant to uphold law and order since 1961. The then PPP Government could not have been afforded the opportunity to foster social and economic development in the country.
He contended that it was against this same background that the PPP/C entered government in 1992.
“During the years the disciplined services used to suppress the party and the people within the party. As we got into government many people in Guyana wondered how we would manage to relate with the disciplined forces. These memories would have threatened the cordial relations between Government and the disciplined forces at both the institutional level and the level of the ranks.”
Prime Minister Hinds said that the current level of cooperation between Government and the disciplined forces is testimony that the bad history has been put aside.
He stated that the PPP/C Government inherited a dilapidated system in the GPF in 1992 and set about to renovate it.
The Prime Minister noted that there were many recommendations in the DFC reports, all pointing to the need for resources to attain minimum acceptable standards in the GPF and much more if best practices were to be achieved.
Hinds said that since he took over the office of Minister of Home Affairs on Tuesday, he has received the Ministry’s assessment of the recommendations in the reports and has gone over what is required to implement them.
Rising in support of the DFC reports, Corbin stated that the DFC ought to be a reminder to Guyanese that unless the serious problems that affect the society are addressed, there could be the destruction of the social order.
“The circumstances which demanded the Commission are noteworthy and should provide useful lessons to those charged with managing the affairs of the nation,” he said.
He added that given the ambivalence the government has attached to the current ‘death squad’ affair, it is evident that Guyana presents itself as a perfect example of a nation, which has learnt nothing from history.
“The death squad issue goes to the core of democracy. Unless this matter is satisfactorily resolved nothing else matters for the future of this country,” Corbin told the House.
Corbin noted that the DFC reports alluded to the existence of an organised killing squad.
He pointed out that the request into this activity was not initially made by the PNCR but by civil society.
He stated that the interim report was presented to the National Assembly since December 1, 2003.
“It was then left to the authorities outside of Parliament to bring it to the attention of the Chief Executive Officer of the land so that he could uphold and preserve the Constitution which has in it the fundamental right to life,” he said.
Corbin stated that it took the PNCR three years of struggle for an investigation into allegations into extra-judicial killings to begin.
The Opposition Leader noted that the genesis of the DFC inquiry had to do with the indiscipline that pervaded the GPF.
This involved impropriety, unlawful conduct, scams at the highest level and participation in the highly publicised US visa scam.
He said despite numerous complaints to the government, the administration did not see it fit to take visible action to bring the situation in the GPF under control and this led to much instability in the country.
He said the actions of members of the GPF were not an indictment on the government but the dilatory action taken by the administration made them culpable for the volatile situation that followed.