-army chief testifies before parliament committee
By Nigel Williams
Leader of the AFC, Raphael Trotman says the current review of the report of the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC) could be an exercise in futility, noting that it has come too late and at a time when a number of the recommendations made have become outdated and irrelevant.
And he said no work has started on the review of the implementation of the $1.05 billion security sector plan which promises sweeping reforms in the police force.
Trotman is a member of the special select committee tasked with reviewing the DFC report submitted in 2004. He is also a member of a committee tasked with reviewing the implementation of the UK-funded security sector reform plan. He indicated that once they had completed examining the recommendations of the DFC report work would begin on the UK-funded plan.
Speaking to Stabroek News last week, one day after the select committee met to continue its review of the DFC report, Trotman said government’s rush to conclude reviewing the report was only at the insistence of the UK government which is funding a security sector reform plan. He said left alone to the government this would not have been done, alluding to an earlier effort where a committee had completed reviewing most of the recommendations on the police force, yet there were no serious efforts on the part of the administration to implement them.
One of the conditions of the UK security plan was for the setting up of a special select committee to conclude the reviewing of the DFC report submitted since 2004.
Trotman told Stabroek News that at last week Monday’s meeting the committee, being chaired by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, began reviewing the 41 recommendations pertaining to the Guyana Defence Force.
He said Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best appeared before the committee bringing it up to date with the army’s views on some of the recommendations and whether it had implemented any. “It was refreshing to see a head of the armed forces being questioned by parliamentarians,” Trotman said, adding that the country needed more of this.
In this vein he said he was proposing the setting up of a standing parliamentary committee on national security, which he said was one of the recommendations made at the National Stakeholders Forum, held in the wake of the Lusignan and Bartica massacres. “We are hoping that through this special select committee we would be able to move the process forward,” Trotman asserted, while indicating that the ruling party had given its support to the recommendation.
However, Trotman noted that one of their biggest problems in moving forward was the Bharrat Jagdeo administration’s attitude to the opposition. “Whenever we become enthusiastic about something the government would drag its feet on it or try to kill it,” Trotman argued, noting that they had to now move with caution lest their good intentions are stymied by narrow politics.
People’s National Con-gress Reform MP Debra Backer who also sits on the committee said when one looks at the over 140 recommendations it was difficult for anyone to take issue with them. She said, however, it is about giving life to the recommendations and not what could become a useless review. ”If those recommendations were to be implemented our forces would be forces to be reckoned with,” Backer declared.
Like Trotman she believes that the government never intended to implement the recommendations of the DFC report, but might have been forced to do so due to the UK government’s insistence. Trotman observed that a lot has changed since the report was compiled, noting that some of the recommendations have already been implemented, while some have now become irrelevant given the nature of crime now.
He said given the situation they had to see their work now as not merely reviewing a report, but also making recommendations for the better management and function of the security forces here. “We now have to take the process a step forward, there are a lot of programmes going on – Citizens Security Programme and the Security Sector Reform – we have to tie in these schemes with some of the recommendations and have a more comprehensive package,” Trotman asserted.
Asked whether the army chief was questioned about the current security problems, Trotman said yes, noting that he was asked to define his organisation’s role in crime fighting. Trotman said from all accounts the army is now seeing itself as assuming a greater role in maintaining public order and internal security, a role traditionally carried out by the police. Trotman said Best was also questioned about the report on torture allegations made against the GDF and he indicated that it was tendered to the relevant authorities. “However he did not deny or admit that there was torture,” Trotman said.
The DFC was established in 2003 at the height of the prison escapee-led crime wave, which dramatically changed the security landscape in the country. Persons were robbed and killed on a daily basis by heavily-armed bandits and a death squad believed to have been controlled by drug dealers sprung into action.
In response to the crisis Jagdeo and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin during their constructive engagement talks brokered an agreement for the DFC to be established. Following the completion of the commission’s work a special select committee was set up by the National Assembly to review the recommendations.
The committee however did not conclude its work in the Eighth Parliament and the National Assembly last year July passed a motion to re-establish a special select committee to conclude the examinations of the report. Opposi-tion MPs who sat on the previous commission have argued that the body had completed examining the recommendations for the reform of the police force and these could have been implemented while the other services were being looked at.