In the aftermath of a series of serious security incidents, the cabinet conducted a weekend ‘outreach’ campaign on 16-17 November on the Corentyne coast.
Eleven teams of ministers and officials swarmed the region in what was clearly an attempt to restore the administration’s authority and political credibility and to reassure residents that their concerns were being considered at the highest levels. More of an outing than outreach, however, the visitation avoided the really crucial recurring security issues that still trouble the region.
In quelling the protests over problems in public transportation arising out of the police force’s ‘Operation Safeway’ traffic enforcement campaign earlier in the month, policemen under Senior Superintendent Balram Persaud discharged tearsmoke to disperse a rowdy crowd at Tain, Corentyne. The use of tearsmoke against a non-threatening assembly and in an open area was ill-advised as it affected persons who were in their homes and schoolchildren at the nearby Tain Primary School.
The contagion of discontent and disorder spread rapidly along the coast. At Tain, cane harvesters of East Berbice Sugar Estates joined the protest. At Number 79 Village, some persons were arrested by the police after they were caught throwing nails and other objects onto the roadway. At Number 75 Village, more were arrested after they were found burning tyres on the roadway. And at Canefield, Canje, hire-car drivers withdrew their services for a short period. Tensions rose. Tempers flared. The region seemed to be in uproar.
To make matters worse, when the men who had been arrested for their role in the disorder appeared at the Number 51 magistrates’ court, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, an attorney-at-law and a member of the National Assembly for the Alliance for Change party, appeared on the scene to represent them. After the hearing, Mr Ramjattan addressed the protesters, winning plaudits for his moderating role and conciliatory tone.
In an example of overreach, three ministers – Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud; Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee; and Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy – rushed to the region to reassure residents of their resolve to solve their problems. Cautioning supporters against the blandishments of “known anti-government political elements,” Mr Persaud seemed to see a political, rather than security, threat, in the crisis.
The Corentyne security situation should not be treated lightly; it has serious national, international and local ramifications. At the national level, the Corentyne has become an important economic zone for an estimated US$400 million state investment in the sugar industry, university campus, river bridge, regional hospital, coastal highway, water treatment plant and electricity generation utility. Its economic significance will be measurably enhanced by its petroleum exploration prospects.
At the local level, the Corentyne is the political heartland of the People’s Progressive Party, which won a convincing majority of the popular vote in the last elections. At the international level, however, the region retains its repugnant reputation as the country’s capital of contraband trafficking, illegal migration and piracy.
Given these considerations, therefore, what good could be expected from dispatching Minister of Public Service, Dr Jennifer Westford, and Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn to meet distressed fishermen at the Number 66 fishport complex, for example? The ministers could do no more than iterate the old exasperating excuses that the administration “recognises” the severe impact of piracy on fishermen’s livelihood and is “committed” to ways of alleviating the situation. They could disclose no new details of plans to deal with piracy because there are none.
There must be something seriously dysfunctional about the cabinet’s security policy-making for the Corentyne. It is now six years since former minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj was put to flight by an irate mob at the same Tain troublespot but the cabinet seems not to have learnt the lesson. The situation still simmers but the region still does not receive the level and quality of security analysis and action it deserves in relation to its economic significance.
The Corentyne does not need hasty visits, hollow vows and fake remedies. It needs radical new thinking that concentrates on simple but sensible security objectives. The cabinet’s weekend outreach has exposed its tactical tunnel vision, a poor substitute for strategic thought.
