AFC Leader Raphael Trotman says a collective constitutional response is needed to resolve Guyana’s current security problems and mechanisms such as UN involvement and the devolution of power must be considered.
Trotman told the National Assembly that UN involvement in Bosnia, Sudan, East Timor and other states has begun to redefine its role while models in the devolution of power exist nearby in Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela and as far away as Northern Ireland and Sweden. Noting that democratic institutions do not always work where there are social cleavages, Trotman said some have recommended devolution along territorial lines such as federalism, power sharing or shared governance and inclusive democracy.
In his presentation at Wednesday’s budget debate Trotman referred to the massacres at Lusignan and Bartica and pointed out that the $119.3 billion budget would be meaningless unless the descent into madness is arrested. “I suspect that within a few months unless we dismount and change course and not stay the course that we are currently on, this document is not going to be worth the paper that it is printed on,” he added. The AFC leader contended that the events of January 26 and February 17, 2008 were a continuation of a trend that started in earlier years and they have permanently changed the local landscape socially, legally, politically and economically.
Meanwhile, PNCR-1G MP and Chief Whip E. Lance Carberry said it was important to recognize the contradiction in the sentiments in the budget speech, the government’s actions and the need for peace and security which are inextricably intertwined with progress and development. He posited that the “unhealthy realities in the national environment” undermine the achievement of the developmental objectives stated in the 2008 budget. Carberry said the PNCR has been unequivocal in its condemnation of the brutal murders at Lusignan and Bartica but at a time when it should be seeking to unite the nation and address the national security situation, government has chosen to abuse its sole access to the state-owned NCN television to sow the seeds of ethnic division and animosity. The programmes were certainly not the act of a government that wants to promote peace, security and development for all the people, he said.
Hushed
Speaking to a hushed House, Trotman said despite the best efforts made since 1966, Guyana is floundering on the brink of collapse. He said that every Head of State since Independence has struggled to govern a rich, geographically endowed country and to build a nation from six different groups. Trotman also submitted that outside of the increase in the allocation for crime and security in the 2008 budget the remaining heads are now of little consequence “unless we get our crime and security situation and good governance platforms in place urgently, there will be schools, buildings, and bridges to spend money on but no people to benefit from them…they all would have left or become consumed in the looming conflagration.”
In this context, he said that statements made by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad “about bird watching and yachting are now bordering on the sublime and ridiculous.” A similar fate, he said awaits “the government building bridges of friendship and social cohesion in the face of the worst massacres in our history barring Jonestown, and so too the unfortunate, uninformed, and uneducated statements made about the etiological or root causes of crime and insecurity and the catalysts which drive and accelerate them.” The AFC leader added that the recent travel advisories issued by foreign governments have effectively put paid to the plans to develop the tourism sector, at least in the near to medium term.
On the issue of national security and territorial integrity Trotman said the military needed to take care of external and transnational threats. He mentioned the discovery of an 1100-metre airstrip on the Corentyne, the incidents at Eteringbang and the Cuyuni River where Parsram Persaud was killed and a year later, two dredges destroyed by the Venezuelan military; the movement of narcotics and weapons across the borders, and piracy “which continue daily, to [show] that the security forces cannot fight on two fronts at the same time.” He said too with planned increased activity in the Exclusive Economic Zone for the exploration of oil and gas by Repsol of Spain and CGX there was a weakening of Guyana’s diplomatic and military effort to protect the country’s gains. “Scarce resources have to be diverted to the civilian policing matters,” he said.
Trotman contended that the recent massacres cannot be dismissed as mere criminal activity coming from any particular enclave of the society. “The high incidence of dissatisfaction, despair and disgust is pervasive as was witnessed firsthand by some members of the Cabinet who braved the angry residents of Lusignan and Mon Repos immediately after the slaughter,” he said.
The AFC leader added that the fact that 18 is the average age of the present crop of criminals called by various names or labels and that some like “Nasty Man” are almost babes in arms, tells that they emerged within the last 15 years, under the PPP/C administration.
He said too some forms of the government’s response such as the recent national stakeholders’ meeting and reaffirmation of the security plan to address the current situation are inadequate. A wholesome response which is collective and constitutional is needed, Trotman said.
