Second semester
Editorial
Stabroek News
April 13, 2007
During his first semester as Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Clement Rohee saw it all. On the very day on which he was sworn in as minister, a government building in the secure compound of the Guyana Elections Commission was gutted by fire, probably the work of arsonists. A bad omen, perhaps. In the following months, the minister witnessed high levels of armed robberies, arson, murders, narco-trafficking, piracy, prison escapes, and road accidents.
In the flush of newness after taking over his portfolio, Mr Rohee promised to be "tough on drug lords," claiming to possess an international perspective of what the fight against drugs, arms smuggling and money-laundering entailed. He had "a large reservoir of contacts which could be used to explore possibilities of cooperation in the fight against crime," and pledged to deploy his considerable political and international experience with neighbouring countries.
Much has not happened in those areas. Aided by the non-appointment of a competent coordinator to breathe life into the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, cocaine continues to pour though Guyana's porous air and maritime ports. In February, for example, Trinidad's Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau intercepted another multi-million dollar consignment of cocaine stuffed in vegetables from Guyana on its way to Canada.
Fire prevention, also, is a neglected area. Rather than repair the city's fire hydrants, most of which are non-functional and which are a major reason why water cannot be delivered to extinguish blazes, the administration established yet another Cabinet sub-committee to examine the enhancement of the Guyana Fire Service.
President Bharrat Jagdeo met the Minister of Home Affairs and senior Guyana Fire Service officers to discuss the acquisition of appliances and equipment and the expansion of the service. All of these requirements, however, have been carefully detailed in the Fire Service's 2003-2007 five-year strategic plan which should have been coming to a close this year.
The fragile prison system still needs repair. Nine convicts overpowered guards and escaped from the Mazaruni Prison in January, a direct consequence of poor staffing and weak security structures. The Guyana Prison Service's strategic plan, of which the Minister of Home Affairs is aware, calls for the improvement of its security equipment to deal with the growing number of desperate and dangerous inmates.
While the Police Traffic Department's energies have been concentrated on preventing congestion on the East Bank Demerara public road during the all-important world cup cricket tournament, there has been a spate of fatal accidents on rural roadways. Three persons died in a fatal accident on Good Friday, on the D'Edward Village public road, West Coast Berbice. A week earlier, an eight-year-old girl was struck down and killed at Lichfield, also on the West Coast of Berbice and, on the same day, a police constable was killed on the Palmyra public road, Corentyne. It should be obvious that speeding vehicles on rural roads which run through villages pose greater threats to human life than bothersome traffic jams in urban areas.
Despite police successes in seizing numerous illegal weapons, many more - among them assault rifles, machines guns and grenades - are still used in crimes or found in caches in private homes. Mr Rohee had promised that the administration would introduce legislation this year to make certain gun crimes non-bailable and to mandate stiffer penalties for offenders. Meanwhile, emboldened by the easy availability of weapons, armed robbers continue to wreak havoc on the business community and private homes, shooting and robbing their victims.
Having said farewell to the Peruvian Leonardo Caparros Gamarra, and while awaiting the conclusion of the court cases against the incoming security adviser American Bernard Kerik, the minister could gainfully spend the coming months studying the sensible strategic plans for the police, prisons and fire services under his portfolio. These plans were all prepared by British experts over the past seven years and, even without the establishment of another cabinet sub-committee or the appointment of a foreign consultant, he can surely begin to implement the plans' recommendations to measurably improve the level of public safety during his second semester.