Although the Guyana For-ensic Science Labora-tory is doing work, it is still not yet equipped to do DNA testing, according to Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who has revealed that the $1 billion facility is getting support from multilateral agencies.
This is the first official confirmation that the facility, which was commissioned by the then Donald Ramotar government in 2014, is in working order. Until now, the operations of the lab have been top secret.
Though Ramjattan did not provide a lot of information about what is taking place at the Turkeyen location, he said more than former home minister Clement Rohee, who, when approached by this newspaper on the operations of the lab, had been vague in his responses and appeared very secretive when questions. Ramjat-tan, who had previously said that he was reviewing piles of documents related to the lab, has told Stabroek News that while the lab continues “to do its work,” it is still incapable of conducting DNA tests, which is “top of the line kind of investigations.”
Speaking last Wednes-day, the minister said that nonetheless based on the information provided to him, testing has commenced and is ongoing.
Ramjattan told this newspaper that toxicology testing and examination of forged documents are among the main tasks of the staff. “That is what I understand (is) supposed to be done there,” he stressed.
In late June, during an interview with this newspaper, the minister had said that his impression was that the lab was stalled but he would be seeking to ensure that it becomes a working facility.
Ramjattan is now satisfied to some extent with the operations of the Inter-American Development Bank-funded lab. “Thus far, knowing from whence it came, I am satisfied [but] there is lots more to be done,” he stressed.
During his address at the July 14, 2014 commissioning ceremony, Rohee had said that the lab will aim to use scientific techniques that the country had never seen before to solve crimes. He said that the lab would specialise in testing toxic substances, narcotic drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and biological fluids.
Rohee had also stated that the lab would not be another white elephant and said there had been discussions on the question of the clientele of the laboratory in order to formulate a business plan to ensure that at every stage of its development it was active.
Though he had said that the facility was outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including highly specialised systems, it was later learnt that it was not set up for DNA testing, which is now an integral part of police investigations.
Currently, millions are spent to send DNA samples abroad for testing and in some cases the results have taken years before they are returned to the country.
Rohee subsequently said that the ministry was given a mandate by government to introduce some elements of laboratory DNA testing at the facility. It is unclear if the previous administration managed to make any headway in this regard.
Meanwhile, Ramjattan said there is enough staff and equipment in place to ensure that the facility remains functional. There have always been concerns that the facility was understaffed. This newspaper had been told that a number of persons had resigned from the facility, owing to poor working conditions.
Based on advertisements placed in the daily newspapers shortly before the commissioning, there should be at least 14 people on staff. Just recently there was an advertisement in the press to fill two vacancies. To date, the size of the staff is unknown. It is unclear, also, who is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the facility. If one passes the facility at any time during the day, there are no signs of activity there. Access to the compound is restricted and the electronic gate is manned by security guards.
According to Ramjat-tan, all the required staff and equipment to undertake the testing currently being done are in place. “They have all of that but to the extent of doing very high quality DNA testing I don’t think they have graduated to that very high level,” he said.
The facility was built in an unused section of the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen campus under an arrangement that the lab would serve as a training ground for young scientists in the field of forensics.
