Dear Editor,
The recent disclosures about the state of the police station at Bartica are so shocking that the citizens of this country should be outraged that former minister Rohee would allow such a disgrace to occur under his watch; our policemen in Guyana deserve much better. I recently went into Brickdam police centre and couldn’t believe the conditions under which our policeman work as they serve this nation; again, as minister, Clement Rohee sure didn’t give a farthing’s worth of care to the men and women in uniform because he was minister for quite a while and to have Brickdam and Bartica in the condition they are is proof of his neglect and incompetence.
Editor, Brickdam and Bartica are not isolated cases, I can assure you, because I have reliable information that across this country, police stations are way below the standards which exist in the rest of the West Indies. Our police should be comfortable in their work environment and there’s no excuse for anything otherwise. Ask anyone and they will tell you that comfort and decent working conditions lead to better work performance, and the police ranks are human beings who are affected by the lack of basic amenities, just like the rest of us.
Clement Rohee is now claiming that he and the PPP were cheated at the last elections and that Dr Surajbally should resign, but from what I have observed, Dr Surajbally ran Gecom a lot better than Rohee ran his ministry. When his PPP was winning elections, Mr Rohee never called for the Commissioner’s removal; what a sore loser Rohee has turned out to be. The Elections Commission did a great job verifying every single vote.
Editor, when I see Mr Rohee on television, ranting and raving over his lost cause, I cannot but help contrast him with our new minister, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, who, in a suit and tie, brings a real professionalism to that job (the recent photo of Khemraj and the Indian security representative underlined my belief in supporting his cause), but added to that is the sense that our new minister will bring a caring attitude to the ranks and fix the deplorable conditions they had to work under when Rohee was around. Mr Rohee was more concerned with water cannon while the ranks couldn’t even get good drinking water; Rohee was more concerned with fighting off British help against crime than fighting the criminal elements in our society; Rohee was more concerned with maintaining the status quo in terms of the security of our country instead of bringing real changes to effectively fight criminal activity − changes which have already started under our new minister with the naming of a new Crime Chief and engagement in talks with British, Russian and Indian representatives about security/policing.
Editor, thank God that Clement Rohee is no longer minister and the public can now see his shoddy work, especially when Mr Ramjattan makes this ministry successful and crime goes on the retreat, including white collar crime. President Granger showed great insight and vision when he made Khemraj Ramjattan our security minister and he will be rewarded by good results, I am sure. The ranks are in good hands and the new minister will show the Guyanese public what a poor minister Rohee was. On top of that we all can see that he is also a poor politician with his crying all the time about how he was robbed at the polls when no one believes him, even his own supporters. It is high time that Rohee woke up from his slumber of stolen elections, smell the coffee of Khemraj’s initial successes and get dressed to mark time, doing more of nothing at Freedom House.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
