PNCR-1G Member of Parliament, Basil Williams says that the government here needs to move on the illegal weapons tracing agreement with the US because of the proliferation of illicit firearms in the country which “poses an enormous security problem”.
Gun crimes have spiralled over the past decade, Williams said, noting that the administration must direct focus to the large cache of illegal arms here. While the PNCR-1G is yet to discuss the agreement with the US at a party level, Williams said, its policy has long been firm against the surge of illegal weapons.
He underscored the issue of gun smuggling along the borders, but homed in on what he described as the damaging practice of certain characters being handed weapons within the approved channels, adding that the administration had had to directly address this issue a few years ago.
Alliance For Change leader, Raphael Trotman has observed that while the signing of an illegal weapons tracing agreement with the US is critical to the security sector here, the necessary capacity building to support the initiative must be in place.
He said that the US-Caribbean initiative, which provides for the electronic tracing of illicit firearms and was signed onto by ten other regional governments on Tuesday in Barbados, offers benefits, but that it also ”raises questions about enforcement and points to what resources are available to support it”.
Trotman, in an invited comment on the ongoing discussions between Guyana and the US, asserted that officials here need to negotiate the pact wisely and cautiously with a focus on what is to be achieved and how. But he emphasized that the country’s borders are porous and remains a key smuggling point, noting that strategies must be initiated to arrest the problem.
The AFC leader said too, that Guyana has in the past signed onto important agreements which lacked any commitment for capacity building. This, he said, has had major implications for the future of those agreements as the country struggles to achieve the successes that are projected. Trotman referred to the Trafficking in Persons programme initiated a few years ago saying that enforcement efforts continue to be cited as a major challenge here because “the necessary support is absent”, adding that as a result, Guyana continues to suffer low ratings.
But Trotman did point out that it is important for Guyana to negotiate the weapons tracing agreement in its best interest, and if the necessary conditions are met, possibly ink the deal.
Ten countries in the region signed the agreement with the United States to make the tracing of illegal weapons easier, but Guyana was not among those at the signing ceremony in Barbados because bilateral discussions are still ongoing nearly two years after the initial proposal.
The memorandum of understanding which was signed between the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and regional governments provides for the electronic tracing of illicit firearms under a system called eTrace.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee when contacted by Stabroek News on Wednesday had said that he is not ready to speak on the agreement, saying he had “no comment at this time” as to why Guyana was not a signatory.
Signatories include Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Grenada.
Regional governments that signed onto the US-Caribbean eTrace initiative are expected to benefit from an electronic, paperless system that gauges crime guns seized in their respective countries. Countries are expected to submit, via the Internet, firearms tracing requests in real time and directly to the computer at ATF’s National Tracing Center. The system allows investigators to trace the history of the weapon from the manufacturer, through the dealer to the original purchaser.
Data gained and analyzed from thousands of such traces also provide useful leads in firearms trafficking investigations and eTrace significantly reduces the turnaround time required to process a trace request, and increases the overall number of crime gun traces by providing a user-friendly mechanism.
