– British High Commissioner ‘frustrated’
British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler yesterday blamed the administration’s bureaucracy for delaying implementation of the UK-funded security sector reform plan.
Speaking with reporters, Wheeler said the reform is “now unfortunately going slowly” and admitted to being “frustrated” with the pace of implementation–a sentiment which he said was shared by President Bharrat Jagdeo. “We need to get on with it, but there are some people in the government who are quibbling about administrative details still, which means we can’t do it and we want to do it,” he said, adding that both he and the head-of-state are eager to see movement in the reform. “We have to use this money; it has been hanging around for a long time, and as I say, in the current economic climate, we need to use it or we will lose it,” he added.
Wheeler also said the delay is constraining a partnership in addressing a number of issues in the security sector, including domestic violence. He was at the time speaking after the International Convention Centre, at Liliendaal, where the Men Empowering Network (MEN) launched a programme for action under the theme, ‘Confronting Domestic Violence’.
Stabroek News contacted Home Minister Clement Rohee for comment on the delays in implementation in the action plan but he asked that questions be referred to Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon. Dr Luncheon, who is the Secretary to the Defence Board, was however unavailable at his office yesterday and attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
An interim Memorandum of Understanding for the four-year £3 million (nearly $1 billion) Security Sector Reform Action Plan was signed in August 2007 by Luncheon and Wheeler.
Wheeler did not go into the details of what has been holding up the process, saying the government needs to be asked the question. “There is nothing that should be stopping this now,” he, however, pointed out, having noted that the UK has agreed with the government on plans for reform of the sector in detail over the next year. “So we want to get on with it.”
But in terms of the administration of the programme, he did emphasise that in the current economic climate the UK sees the need for very tight management of resources. “Because British taxpayers’ money, as you all know [is] under very considerable pressure now,” Wheeler explained. “So we need to have a tight management of resources, but otherwise I think we can move forward on this, providing we have that, I think we can move forward on this.” Wheeler added, “The administration of money should not be a deal breaker, I would hope, it’s too important for that.”
The five main elements of the plan cover building the operational capacity of the police force, from the provision of a uniformed response to serious crime, forensics, crime intelligence and traffic policing; strengthening policy-making across the security sector to make it more transparent, effective, and better co-ordinated; mainstreaming financial management in the security sector into public sector financial management reform; creating substantial parliamentary and other oversight of the security sector; and building greater public participation and inclusiveness in security sector issues. The plan was specifically designed to complement the ongoing Citizen Security and Justice Reform programmes, in a bid to tackle crime and security in a holistic manner.
A parliamentary committee has been set up to review the implementation of the plan, but met only once to elect a chairman, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds. Since then, there have been no meetings, which AFC MP Raphael Trotman, in a recent interview, said appears to be the result of disconnect between the Office of the President and the National Assembly.
The review committee is expected to receive and examine official annual reports from the administration on the status of the implementation of the activities in 11 priority areas on an annual basis and also to provide a final report to the National Assembly of its examination of the reports on the implementation of the entire action plan.
The priority areas were identified after extensive discussions and consultations with stakeholders, including the leadership of the law enforcement agencies, the public and the donor community.
Among the short-term priority areas were: the establishment of a special firearms support team to execute high-risk operations with regard to terrorism, hijacking, hostage release and negotiations and specialized tactical deployment; developing an anti-crime unit through support for an operational protocol, provide training on technical aspects of anti-crime operations and the acquisition of operational equipment and resources among other things; boosting crime intelligence by supporting the capability of the police force with regard to the gathering, analysis, interpretation, dissemination and management of strategic and operational crime-related information; and developing forensic capacity.
In January this year, President Jagdeo appointed Major General (Ret) Michael Atherly as Project Coordinator for Security Sector Reform while the National Assembly approved the creation of an oversight committee for the security sector, which are components of the plan. However, there have still been no reports to the committee on the implementation of these components of the plan.
