Three members of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate Court this week charged with murdering Bartica gold dealer Dweive Kant Ramdass whose body was found at Caiman Hole, East Bank Essequibo after he had been reported missing. Ramdass, at the time he disappeared, had $17 million in his possession and according to reports, some $12 million has been recovered which led to the arresting and charging of civilians and the detention of police officers.
Just over two months ago, a GDF officer and three soldiers were arrested and charged after it was reported that they had robbed a mining camp at Five Star in Region One (Barima/Waini). There were reports at that time that the military men had actually been involved in a shakedown, because the miners at the camp were in Guyana illegally.
Meanwhile, when these allegations had surfaced back in June, residents of Port Kaituma had raised the issue of an investigation into similar allegations made in October 2000 against a mining official, police and soldiers by Amerindians in the same region. According to reports, on October 19, 2000 at a mining camp in Pipiani, Region One, there had been an unauthorized raid of gold miners involving a Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) supervisor, a policeman and army personnel where the victims were reportedly brutalized and their gold seized.
Reports were that there was a ‘gold shout’ in the area when over 50 pounds of gold were found in a short period of time. The shout attracted some 500 persons, mostly from the Matthew’s Ridge/Port Kaituma area. Shortly after, a raid was conducted by a team which comprised a mines officer, a police officer, a non-commissioned GDF officer and two privates, during which miners were searched, cursed, beaten and had weapons stuck in their faces. It was estimated by persons in the area that some 100 ounces of gold were taken from the miners.
In June 2008, eight miners – Dax Arokium, Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres – were murdered at a mining camp at Lindo Creek, shortly after there had been reports of a ‘wash down’ (the diamond mining equivalent of a ‘gold rush’). The perpetrators of the attack had set fire to the bodies and the camp in order to destroy the evidence. However, it had been surmised that because of damage to one of the skulls found there, that at least one of the men had been battered with a sledgehammer. Owner of the mining camp, Leonard Arokium, had accused the joint services of committing the crime. However, both the police and the army had insisted that the perpetrators were Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang who were on the run and had been accused of multiple murders, including those at Lusignan and Bartica earlier that year.
When joint services members are accused of any wrongdoing, the initial public reaction tends to be shock. However, the fact is that members of the forces and services – policeman, soldiers, prison officers and firemen – are also members of society. The only difference between one of them and any other person anywhere else is the training they receive which should set them apart professionally. Although this obtains in many instances, unfortunately, it is not always the case. It is for this reason that there are units within the forces and services which seek to hold officers to high professional standards.
Just as the police investigate crimes committed by civilians, the Office of Professional Responsibility, Internal Affairs and the Military Criminal Investigation Department investigate incidents and allegations of lawbreaking or professional misconduct by the police and military. In some countries, in order to dispel any perception that such investigations might be biased, some of these units are made up of civilians. The objective of such probes would be to get to the truth in every case so that justice would be served at all times. However, the alacrity with which the joint services either accepted or denied that members were involved in the incidents mentioned above raises the question as to whether there were investigations and what form these investigations took. Lack of transparency seems to imply that there is something to hide and allows a few bad apples to label the entire barrel as rotten.