-says indications are drugs trade remains growth industry

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is concerned about the increasing involvement of Guyana Police Force (GPF) officers in the harassment of political activists.

At its second quarterly meeting, the GHRA’s Executive Committee noted that the search and seizure of property in incidents which have no legal purpose smack of an era to which Guyanese have no wish to return. “The increase in such incidents at the onset of another electoral period is ominous,” the release said.

In addition, concerns were raised about the recent police shooting of Osafa Johnson in West Ruimveldt which “reveals disturbing parallels with the modus operandi of the period in which many young men died in phantom killings. The core of the phantom phenomenon was a form of collaboration between GPF members and underworld elements operating with impunity.”

The GHRA said it welcomed the charges brought against the officer involved in the shooting death of Patentia High School student Kelvin Anthony Fraser though it still questions how a constable “barely out of training was allowed to respond to a misdemeanour at a school with a shotgun.” Also, it said deaths of three officers in circumstances which have not been explained should be fully investigated and treated with the utmost concern. “Internal reforms required to address such matters have been facilitated by parliamentary endorsement of the recommendations of the Disciplined Service Commission (DSC) after six years in Select Committees,” the release said.

Additionally, it said the Report provides yet another opportunity for root-and-branch reform of the GPF which has resisted fundamental reform of its highly centralised militia structure for 170 years. “Without sufficient political will and civic support those reforms will not happen,” it added. The GHRA said the most effective mechanism for mobilising both requirements is Police Oversight Board comprising members drawn from agencies involved in the administration of justice, civil society and the police, with an independent chairperson drawn from civil society. Therefore, it is echoing a call made “over twenty years ago” for some such mechanism to manage and implement the recommended reforms.

The executive also said it was concerned about the regularity of the passage of drugs through the CJI airport and allegations of political and other forms of interference in the operations of the narcotics branch operations, suggest that the drug trade remains a growth industry despite the much-publicised imprisonment of high profile drug figures in the past year.

As regard the Guyana Prison Service the GHRA noted that there is a large number of remand prisoners awaiting trial as was recently highlighted by the action of High Court Judge Roxanne George-Wiltshire to set trial dates for those imprisoned since 2005. Apart from the injustice associated with delayed trials, general prison conditions deteriorate rapidly as a result of the overcrowding. The large number of prisoners on remand for murder is particularly disturbing reproducing conditions which lead to gangs and the breakdown of discipline in circumstances of staff shortages and a high percentage of female warders. “Recent riots in the prison are a wake-up call to the dangers posed by an overcrowded, under-staffed prison in the centre of a city,” the release said.

According to the release, overcrowding also adversely affects the health of the general prison population. “To what extent this problem has been further aggravated by transfer of HIV and TB prisoners from the Lusignan facility, modified specifically to accommodate them some years ago, is still to be evaluated,” it said. Though it acknowledges that the move may have been well-intentioned to bring sick prisoners closer to medical facilities, the dangers arising from TB, a contagious disease in over-crowded prison needs no elaboration.

The GHRA said too the self-support system at the Camp Street prison lowers the risk of both malnutrition and disturbances however, it noted that the stipulation that food must be delivered twice  every day requires a family member to devote virtually full-time to this chore, imposing financial and other burdens on families. In addition, the GHRA has received reports that females – who constitute the majority of those who deliver food – being sexually harassed by prison officers. In the light of these circumstances the GHRA is appealing to the authorities to review the delivery system with a view to eliminating these problems.