Approaching two years since government unveiled a much-heralded drug strategy master plan, with promised innovations such as wiretapping legislation and an enforcement post near the Orinoco Delta, the administration is yet to appoint a coordinator and the National Anti-Narcotics Coordinating Secretariat (NANCOS) is still to be set up.
There is also little or no movement in the implementation of some aspects of the plan, although Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee is optimistic that some of these measures would soon be put in place. The establishment of NANCOS, which is to be the main oversight body for the strategy, was one of the first things that was to be done before the plan was implemented. Rohee, during an interview with this newspaper, admitted that little progress has been made in this regard. However, he said he has been pursuing the matter of appointing a coordinator for the secretariat and hopes the person would be in place by the end of the second quarter of this year.
The ambitious $650 million strategy was unveiled in June 2005 with much fanfare and President Bharrat Jagdeo had said at the launch that funding for it would come from donor agencies. Rohee could not say whether the administration has already identified the funding sources. He pointed out that his ministry was not responsible for the mobilizing of funding. According to the plan, “the implementation of the measures is dependent on the allocation of resources by the government, either through its own funding or bilateral and/or multilateral assistance as is deemed necessary.”
The strategy was unveiled after a four-year hiatus where anti-narcotics master plans were concerned, and amid international pressure for Guyana to act against the burgeoning drugs trade and the growing influence of drug lords. The plan was one of the documents to be studied by members of the National Commission on Law and Order, which is chaired by Rohee.
According to the strategy, the government will enact legislation establishing and empowering NANCOS to deal with counter-narcotics activities; to supervise the implementation of the drug plan, regional and international drug agreements and to prepare monthly reports for submission to the National Anti-Narcotics Commission.
Further, it also seeks to amend laws dealing with electronic surveillance such as wiretapping. Among other things, such a law would make admissible in the local courts expert scientific evidence from foreign jurisdictions. In addition, the intention is to make the provisions relating to liquid narcotics/ hashish seizure and forfeiture less cumbersome. Several security experts had told this newspaper that the wiretapping legislation would help reduce the drug problem and could contribute in large measure to the arrest of many drug dealers.
The plan also encompassed increasing the joint enforcement presence at the nine ports of entry, the establishment of an enforcement port in the vicinity of the Orinoco Delta and other locations and increased surveillance at the Bartica, Anna Regina, Linden and Enmore runways, none of which has materialised.
Moreover, the strategy had envisaged that in the first year the secretariat would be established and funding sources – local, bilateral and international would be identified. The Joint Intelligence Coordination Centre (JICC) was also to be operationalised in the first year and the Immigration and Criminal Investigation Departments (CID) computerised. Rohee said the JICC has been working although he acknowledged that the centre could do more. With regard to the computerisation of the immigration and CID departments, Rohee said this was ongoing. He said currently the immigration section of the Cheddi Jagan Airport is equipped with computers and there are moves to install computers at the CID, which would allow it to network with other divisions. Under the reforms of the police much emphasis would be placed in this area. “We have catered for the computerization of the entire police force in the reform process so that not only the immigration and CID departments would be looked at but all the other divisions,” Rohee said.
Additionally, the drug plan calls for the completion of outstanding legislative requirements covering narcotics, money laundering and food and drugs, together with the relevant regulations. Work has already begun in this area.
Year one of the implementation of the plan should have also seen the development of a national policy on demand reduction, the strengthening of border controls and the enactment of laws to allow for law enforcement agencies to be supported from the proceeds of forfeiture. Rohee said that with the upcoming Cricket World Cup event, there has been greater law enforcement at the country’s borders. Local law enforcement officers’ presence has been boosted with increased surveillance by officials of the neighbouring countries.
Also expected in the initial year were the signing and ratifying of international agreements and conventions, the drawing up of a Memoran-dum of Understanding by law enforcement agencies and the commissioning of a study on the police forensic unit. Rohee told Stabroek News with respect to the forensic study, government has gone further, since it is in the process of building a modern forensic unit, capable of conducting DNA testing and other works. The ratifying of international agreements would be looked at by the recently established governance unit within the Office of the President. Former home affairs minister Gail Teixeira is the head of this unit. Rohee said Teixeira would handle all of these international matters and as far as he was aware much work has been done in these areas.
Training for central bank and financial institutions staff as catered for under the Money Laundering Act, the operationalising of the Financial Intelligence Unit, the establishment of rehabilitation programmes for drug abusers and the fostering of prison rehabilitation and counselling complete the measures to be implemented within the first year.
