Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee yesterday said there is no need for an audit of $90M allocated to the Guyana Police Force during last year’s elections, as the ministry released spending details and sought to discredit a claim by a divisional commander that he did not receive any funds.
“I don’t think that that would be necessary,” Rohee told the National Assembly in response to a query by APNU parliamentarian Volda Lawrence about whether the Auditor General should be called in to investigate. “I do not believe that there is any mystery about the sum of money,” he added.
In part, the funds were intended to cover transportation and food for those ranks inline prior to, during and after the November 28 elections.
Lawrence grilled Rohee on the allocations, hours after the Home Ministry released details of the expenditure, including the copy of a cheque for $320,000 that was sent to then ‘E & F’ Divi- sion Commander David Ramnarine. Rohee said the cheque, dated November 26, 2011, was signed for by the divisional finance rank.
But Ramnarine, who said yesterday that he was being victimised since going public about the situation, told Stabroek News yesterday that he received the cheque more than a week after the polls. “The cheque came 11 days after it was prepared, so how did we (ranks in the Division) survive?” he said, adding that Police Commissioner Henry Greene had instructed commanders to get public support for the ranks, resulting in them asking businesspersons for assistance to provide food, among other things. “The Minister came out proudly to say this but who is really embarrassing who?” he asked.
Under questioning from Lawrence, Rohee revealed that $10.5M of the total allocation went to the police welfare fund, but he was unable to answer when asked to explain the relationship between the welfare fund and providing transportation and meals for the ranks in line for elections. Rohee said it was a question that has to be put to the finance section of the force.
Rohee was questioned with permission of Speaker Raphael Trotman who told the House that he received a request from Lawrence yesterday morning to ask questions regarding the allocations for the police force. He said he consented for them to be put as oral questions. The decision drew an objection PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira, who argued that while questions without notice can be asked, it was normal courtesy that the answerer be given notice prior to the sitting.
“And the normal practice is that the questions had to be with the Speaker by 11 in the morning and that the Honourable Member would be soon informed prior to the sitting at 2 o’ clock. I have been advised by Minister Rohee [that] he has no such knowledge,” Teixeira said.
Trotman, however, noted that it did not mean that the questions were out of order, since the Standing Orders say that questions may be asked after permission is sought from the Speaker. Further, he said if the minister were unable to provide the answers then he would be given the opportunity to do so at a later date.
“The questions did come to me before 11 and no embarrassment was intended but, as I said, if it is that he is unable to answer, I would have no hesitation in affording him the opportunity to do so. I have never known Honourable Member not to be able to answer,” Trotman added.
Late cheque
In the release from the ministry yesterday morning Rohee said that “as regard the allegations made by a Divisional Commander that he did not receive money from the Guyana Police Force for elections, the Guyana Police Force is in possession of the returned cheque in the sum of $320,000 which the Ministry has been advised was endorsed by the Commander and encashed by his Divisional Finance rank.”
A copy of the Republic Bank cheque, which was attached to the release, showed that it was made out to “D. Ramnarine Asst. Commr” and prepared by the Guyana Police Force Central Welfare Fund, Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.
The release, which included breakdowns of allocations and purchases by division, was the ministry’s latest effort to respond to allegations by Ramnarine that he had not received any money out of the $90M allocation.
In a telephone interview, an upset Ramnarine told Stabroek News yesterday that he saw the copy of the cheque that was released by the ministry and he admitted that he did receive it and signed for it. However, he pointed out that he only signed it on December 6th, 2011, since it was received more than a week after the elections were held, while ranks had been called out five days before the poll date. He was unaware if other commanders had received their cheques late as well.
Though he did not previously refer to this cheque, Ramnarine declared that there was no attempt to mislead anyone by declaring that he had not received “a single cent” when he went public about the $90M allocation, adding that the sum was so small it was not worth mentioning. He pointed out that the Division received $1.5M from members of the business community and in addition, it had a contingency fund with several hundred thousand dollars for emergency purposes which had to be used during the elections period.
Asked why he signed the cheque although the elections were over, Ramnarine explained that it was such a hectic period it was unlikely that he would have looked at the actual date. The cheque, he added, was later used to clear outstanding debts. He emphasised that the figure was so not proportional with the Division’s responsibilities, pointing out that there were 370 regular ranks and more than 200 auxiliary ranks at 41 locations across regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. Based on the information received, he said several million dollars from the $90M allotment was to be allocated to ‘E & F’ Division, the largest of the six divisions.
Ramnarine added that he spoke out “in the context of the sum that might have been made available (several million) for cash and goods as compared to $300,000.” He said that it was ridiculous that such a sum was given to the Division and that he used the phrase “not received a single cent” to express disgust at the situation.
He said that he put his career on the line to expose an overbearing situation that was becoming a norm. “Good leadership is about taking a stand and bringing about change,” he said, while adding that there has been no support from senior police officials for the sacrifice he has made.
Police Public Relations Officer Ivelaw Whittaker had previously said that supplementary provisions were received during November 2011 in the sum of $90,649,200, with $39,641,200 for the shortfall on voted provisions and $51,008,000 for the feeding and transport of ranks during the inline period for the elections. He noted that $8M was to facilitate the cost of travelling expenses and the remaining $43,008,000 was brought to account by the police. He said too that a total sum of $32,491,822 was allocated to Police Divisions, Police Headquarters and Special Constabulary Headquarters to meet expenditure for the feeding of ranks.
He said that Police Divisions, Police Headquarters and the Special Constabulary Headquarters were allocated cash and commodities from the Police Consumers’ Cooperative Society Ltd and other outlets for the feeding of ranks.
