President Bharrat Jagdeo set the intellectual tone for the administration’s present posture on piracy in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region. Speaking recently to residents of No 63 village on the Corentyne, he announced baldly that “there is nothing Guyanese authorities can do” if the piracy attacks on fishermen take place in Surinamese waters.

In fact, there is much that Guyanese authorities can do if they took the trouble to build an effective maritime information and surveillance system and to reinforce the maritime capability of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard.

The first challenge is the quest for correct information. Nobody at any level of the administration seems sure about what has been taking place. Chairman of the Central Intelligence Committee Dr Roger Luncheon sounded nonplussed, confessing that “We are not really that much happy about the way information flows are taking place, from those who are directly affected, to the police or to the law enforcement agencies. We don’t know why this is so, but it is so.”

Dr Luncheon iterated that the information the administration received was not based on formal reports by the victims, or by specific statements to the police. He added wearily, “So, much of it is anecdotal, but you cannot dismiss it