Dear Editor,
The much touted Citizens Security Programme has been finally inked and elements should be implemented shortly. While there has been much talk about this programme and its perceived benefits to Guyana and Guyanese, please permit me to point out two important ingredients to the successful implementation of any such programme to improve security in our country. These are: (i) public trust in the security forces, and (ii) the will to implement and go after all semblance of criminal activities, defined by the Oxford dictionary as “an act or omission regarded as a serious offence against an individual or the state, and punishable by law”. This definition will be elaborated later in this letter.
Let us deal with the first condition. It is a well established fact that confidence in the security forces, particularly the Guyana Police Force (GPF), is not high (see the Guyana Investment Climate Survey, 2006). This is not surprising as their modus operandi of conducting their affairs tend to be confidence draining rather than confidence building. For example, quoting from the Kaieteur News of March 26, 2008 “Confessed murderer had fingered slain Buxtonian in killings – senior cop”. Assuming that the story that followed is true, then does it mean that a “fingering” is tantamount to a death warrant? Does it mean that once a convict says another was involved that person is guilty? If this logic pervades the echelons of the GPF, and God help us if it does, how come more persons were not held for questioning when Mr. George Bacchus came out with his bombshell allegations?
How come the GPF did not go after Mr. Williams who from all accounts killed someone in cold-blood over a plate of ‘ital’ which he was supposed to pay for? Instead, we heard from the GPF that Mr. Bacchus was a “…known character” and that the GPF had “…gotten burnt by him a number of times before”.
What is even more frightening if the Kaieteur News story is to be believed is that it states “The official….said that the suspect, who is presently incarcerated, had referred to Pollard…and several others still at large as the masterminds of the killing.” Questions: how many persons will die based on this “suspect’s” fingering? Can the GPF please publish the names of these ‘masterminds’? Was this ‘suspect’ an innocent bystander?
My second point deals with the will to enforce the law, based on acts committed or omissions that may be illegal, whether on tax returns, under-invoicing, or smuggling of items. Mr Editor, how can anyone place their trust in the security forces when justice is clearly not being done? How can the security forces hope to have any credibility or be trusted when to date there is no wanted bulletin for Mr. Dataram who has ‘disappeared’ since being bailed? How come the GPF cannot apprehend anyone for the seventh wonder of the world that was being constructed at Orealla? Instead we hear some infantile explanation that a bulldozer found at the site was transported there – daaud!!!
Why was a wanted bulletin never issued for Mr. Bovell who killed a University of Guyana student when there were so many eye witnesses who saw what transpired and could even have described the vehicle he drove away in? How aggressively are we pursuing the pirates that continue to decimate the local fishing industry? How many crimes committed in the gold-fields are investigated and solved, not at the end of a barrel of a gun but in a court of law?
Security forces the world over are best supported when they can get communities involved, hence supporting them in their intelligence gathering process.
Until the security forces are perceived to deal with all criminal activities in an even-handed manner I am afraid that the best plan will come to naught.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Bynoe
