Guyana is not interested in having resident security advisors from overseas, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said and is not likely to be interested in this support in the near future. However, it indicated the areas where assistance is needed during the Washington-based meeting last month between Caribbean security ministers and US Attorney General Eric Holder.
“Guyana has no desire to have any resident experts in our country at this point in time [nor] …in the not too distant future either,” Rohee told Stabroek News when approached on the issue recently.
Holder had made the offer while addressing security ministers from the Caribbean at the Washington meeting which the US Embassy here had said was a result of talks with President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas last year in Trinidad and Tobago.
“…While we are committed to helping you address the pressing needs and challenges, we are eager to focus on long-term solutions, now,” Holder said while delivering the main address at the recently concluded Caribbean-United States Security Cooperation Dialogue.
According to Rohee, such a request was probably made by Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries or other countries in the Caribbean when they were negotiating the text of the agreement which was eventually signed on to with the United States.
“But Guyana never made such an insertion in its submission to the …team that was negotiating with the US team on this matter,” he said.
Pressed about what objections Guyana may have to such an offer, Rohee said the country already has security experts.
Local security experts
“We have enough experts here in Guyana in the police force, in the security sector,” the minister said. “So we don’t need a foreign expert to come and tell us… In fact we have already gone a very far way with the reforms so I don’t know what we need an expert to tell us about.”
“Whatever is in that agreement, save and except for experts I think we basically concur with. But when it comes to bringing experts to Guyana for the security sector that is a no go.”
Asked whether he is worried about foreign intrusion in Guyana’s affairs, the minister said, “No, no is not that we are worried about that, we are just confident enough that we have the necessary expertise in Guyana. The expertise comes through the citizens security programme, through these consultancies, that are coming on the basis for implementation of the modernisation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the institutional modernisation of the Guyana Police Force and the community action component.”
External experts are coming under the IDB funded programme, but not to fit into any line position in these departments.
“What they are coming for is to conduct studies, develop a strategic plan, develop training programmes and things like this which we have already agreed to here in Guyana, the minister explained.
Rohee said too that the administration has already said no to the offer and should taking up the offer be a condition for assistance through the security initiative, Guyana would then not participate in the arrangement.
Stabroek News recently spoke to a local security expert on the issue and he said the Caribbean needed training for their local personnel instead of resident experts.
He had pointed out that the advisor would not remain in the post indefinitely and when that person left someone else would have to replace them and this could create problems as the new person would bring his/her own ideas.
But if trainers are brought in, when they leave, trained personnel would be in place to use their expertise in the local crime fight.
The security expert also pointed out that the Caribbean is in need of equipment and because many pieces are of a complex nature it would be a good option to have experts on hand to teach locals how to operate them.
The expert pointed out that there should be some sustainability in the support provided and stressed that the training must not be centralized but should be of a duration that ensures that those trained can become experts and trainers themselves in the field. “We don’t need a two-day seminar or workshop,” the expert said.
Alliance for Change (AFC) leader Raphael Trotman had said that Holder’s proposal could ultimately lead to tension with sovereignty.
He said such a proposal was even more difficult to accept in the light of the saga that surrounds Jamaican alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke who is wanted in the US on drug trafficking and gunrunning charges.
According to Trotman, while governments and security forces are going to want the help and assistance to suppress the drug problem they “will naturally be uncomfortable with resident ‘experts’ watching over them.”
He had said, however, that the very serious issues arising from transnational crimes including trafficking in narcotics and weapons that are common to Caricom “and the US should be sufficient to ensure that an arrangement is worked out to ensure non-resident but ‘visiting’ experts [are provided].”
He said these experts could ensure that aid is being properly applied and is targeted at the right areas.
