Moves by government to establish a technical committee to create protocols for the enhancement of Guyana’s search and rescue capacity have been described by Tourism and Hospitality Association (THAG) President Renata Chuck-A-Sang as “a reassuring development” for the tourism sector and “a positive, if long-overdue step for the country as a whole.”
Last Wednesday, following a directive from President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds convened a meeting with heads of the disciplined services, representatives of the Private Sector Commission, the Civil Defence Commission and Transport Minister Robeson Benn to discuss concerns over the weakness of the country’s search and rescue capacity and the need to develop more reliable responses to emergencies.
Chuck-A-Sang told Stabroek Business that news that there has been an apparent breakthrough in the quest to create a national search and rescue system was “good news” not only for the tourism sector but for the business community as a whole, and for the people who are required to travel to and from the interior. “When you consider that our entire interior population depends on the coast for it social services you understand how important search and rescue is,” Chuck-A-Sang told Stabroek Business.
And Chuck-A-Sang said that she believed that the “persistence” of Private Sector Commission Chairman Captain Gerry Gouveia in calling for the creation of a local search and rescue infrastructure accounts for the decision to set up the technical committee.
“Captain Gouveia has been both insistent and persistent in calling for a search and rescue system,” Chuck-A-Sang said.
Meanwhile this newspaper understands that last Wednesday’s meeting has assigned the task of establishing protocols for search and rescue procedures to a technical committee chaired by head of the Civil Defence Commission and former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Major General (retd) Michael Atherly. The team includes representatives of the security services and the Aircraft Owners Association.
Last Friday Stabroek Business published a story based on an interview with Gouveia in which he expressed the private sector’s loss of confidence in the capacity of the authorities to mount an effective search and rescue operation and issued yet another call for the state, the private sector and “other stakeholders” to work together to enhance local search and recue capacity.
Reports emanating from other sections of the media suggest that Gouveia’s comments regarding the weakness of the local search and rescue capacity may have placed him at odds with Transport Minister Robeson Benn, but Gouveia refused to be drawn on the issue and told Stabroek Business that what was desirable was that there be “a pooling of capacities” to realize what was being sought. “I have repeatedly made the point that while Guyana’s aviation safety record is second to none we cannot ignore the importance of search and rescue,” he added.
Meanwhile Gouveia told this newspaper that what he expected would arise out of the current initiative being spearheaded by the Prime Minister was the creation of a broader disaster preparedness capacity that took account of aviation and maritime emergencies as well as natural disasters. “As far as search and rescue is concerned the local Aircraft Owners Association can play a key role since it already has at its disposal aircraft and trained pilots. These can be made available to whatever search and rescue system is set up as and when they are needed.”
