Again, last week, Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Clement Rohee was obliged to meet executives of the mining community to explain why recommendations of previous joint meetings remained unimplemented.
Following the Lindo Creek massacre, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association complained about the state of security in the hinterland where mining takes place. Earlier this month, Major General Norman Mc Lean reported that the security dialogue between the administration and the association was going nowhere. He lamented that “…at the highest level, there seems to be no priority being placed on ensuring that this problem is addressed,” especially where co-operation with the police is concerned.
The problem, though, might have been not with the non-performance of the police force or the non-implementation of the previously proposed recommendations but with the non-understanding of the scale and scope of the hinterland security problem.
Guyana is only slightly smaller than the size of England, Scotland and Wales combined. Its thick, tropical jungle, wide open grasslands, numerous rivers, waterfalls and cataracts, mountainous terrain, heavy rainfall and the absence of roads and bridges might be pretty but pose practical challenges to easygoing, city-bred government officials and law enforcement officers to travel easily and function effectively.
The police force absurdly amalgamated its two most under-manned and under-resourced ‘E’ and ‘F’ Divisions − merging five of the largest administrative regions which comprise approximately 70 per cent of this country’s territory. In addition, this mega-division is responsible for over 1,800 km of land borders with Brazil and Venezuela. This large land area with such long frontiers is under command of one of the most junior divisional commanders − a mere senior superintendent!
The population of this combined police mega division might be only about 100,000 but the area is 152,000 km². Its long unwatched borders, unpatrolled open spaces, unmonitored airstrips and numberless rivers are corridors for illegal narcotics and firearms to be carried to commit crimes on the coastland. It has been an egregious historical error to underestimate the spatial dimension of national security.
The police force simply does not possess sufficient personnel, aircraft, boats, vehicles and other resources at present. Apart from the difficulty in investigating crimes in widely dispersed villages, logging camps and mining areas, the police can hardly protect indigenous communities from the depredations of unscrupulous vagabonds. The combination of executive ignorance of the territory and administrative incompetence can have catastrophic consequences for those who live and work there.
Guyana west of the Essequibo River can be a very lawless place. Enterprising bandits easily exploit the police force’s incapability to effectively patrol the ‘bush.’ Last October, two members of a private security firm were ambushed and killed on a desolate roadway near to Sheribana.
At other times, Brazilian miners have been murdered; horrible vehicle accidents have taken the lives of dozens; abandoned narco-trafficking aeroplanes have occasionally been ‘discovered’ on roadways or airstrips.
There has been no shortage of security meetings to discuss this situation. Two and a half years ago in January 2006, President Bharrat Jagdeo, then Minister of Home Affairs Ms Gail Teixeira and Commissioner of Police Mr Felix met executives of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association Mr Alfro Alphonso and Major General Norman McLean to discuss hinterland security.
Back in October 2003, then Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Mr Robeson Benn and acting Commissioner of the Guyana Police Force Mr Winston Felix agreed on a “plan of action” to stem violent attacks and murders in the hinterland in the light of the murder of two Brazilian miners. Following the Bartica massacre, even more meetings were held with the Minister of Home Affairs, the Prime Minister and senior security forces officers.
More meetings will not solve the policing problem. The Minister of Home Affairs cannot expect improved results without improved resources. He needs to take a fresh look at public safety in a holistic way. He must re-appraise the rickety police divisional structure, recruit the 600 or more constables needed to bring the police force up to its authorised establishment, retrain policemen to operate in the ‘bush,’ and reconsider the location of police stations and the provision of communication, transportation, and investigation equipment to the force.
The hinterland is a big, empty arena, enveloped by long, isolated borders within which any amount of banditry, contraband trafficking, environmental damage and other illegality could occur. The opening of the highway to Brazil will aggravate the public safety crisis. The country needs new thinking at the ministerial level to secure the hinterland and to protect the people who live and work there.
