Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said government’s efforts for a US Drug Enforce-ment Administration (DEA) office here were unfruitful.
His statement came in the wake of the latest US State Department report which said no additional resources will be provided toward drug investigation in Guyana unless there was deeper involvement of the DEA here.
“I would want to advise that efforts have been made by government but those efforts have not been fruitful,” Luncheon said about the report.
The annual report on drug control said that in the absence of both sound data and more robust Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforce-ment involvement, the US will not augment resources for investigation and interdiction in Guyana. It also criticised Guyana for not effectively implementing its drug master plan two years after it was launched.
However, the US has pledged to channel future assistance to initiatives that demonstrate success in treating substance abusers. It also said it would continue to use its diplomatic tools to encourage the government to organize an effective counter narcotics programme, especially within the context of the British funded overhaul of the security sector.
It is believed that the Guyana and US governments were unable to reach agreement on key issues surrounding the setting up of a DEA office here. Trinidad has a DEA office and it has been used to coordinate operations targeting Guyanese drug suspects. Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, in his address to the National Assembly earlier this week said there has been some degree of cooperation be-tween the DEA and local law enforcement agencies. According to the Government Information Agency (GINA) Rohee said, “It doesn’t necessarily follow that you have to have a DEA presence in Guyana to be working with the DEA in order to fight drug trafficking.” Rohee said the ministry plans to undergo a mid-term review on March 28.
