If nothing else, the contretemps over the $90M allocated to the Guyana Police Force for the sustenance of its men and women in the election period underlines the fissuring in the esprit de corps and deep-seated grievances at various levels of the force.
The genesis of the division was a series of news items in the Kaieteur News which quoted the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr David Ramnarine as saying that none of the $90M which was purportedly set aside for the force in the election period had been assigned to his men and he wanted to make that clear. The obvious implication of his statement was that it had gone abroad that there was money that was to be distributed to those law enforcers engaged in election duties and some had gotten, perhaps more than they should, and others had gotten nothing. Mr Ramnarine wanted it to be made clear that nothing had flowed in his direction thereby easing any pressure that might radiate from the policemen and women under his command. The matter festered for several days and prompted an officious and unenlightened response on March 13 from the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Clement Rohee. The minister was later to play on March 15 what he would have deemed his trump card, the copy of a returned cheque to the tune of $320,000 made out on November 26 to Mr Ramnarine. That took some of the sheen off of Mr Ramnarine’s argument and his credibility but he has since rebutted that this figure was a small amount compared to the real needs of the division and had only been signed for after the elections.
This brings us to the missive authored by Mr Rohee on March 15. Mr Rohee made several arguments about why Mr Ramnarine should have eschewed recourse to the media on this matter:
-Standing Order 38 (a) prescribes who in the police hierarchy can speak and on what:
-These matters become politically controversial and any violation of the Standing Orders in this respect “must be seen as supportive of the prevailing thrust of the political opposition…”;
-There were internal procedures that could have been followed.
None of Mr Rohee’s points was enlightening or oriented towards resolving the matter. His admonitions were more in keeping with a politico trying inappropriately to keep the lid on matters which should be properly and completely in the public domain.
It may have escaped Minister Rohee that it was really the acting Police Commissioner who should have been advocating, not the pre-eminence of the Standing Orders, but the need for respect for internal order and discipline as it related to the allocations from the $90M. It was the place of the acting Commissioner to ensure that he could satisfy the concerns of Mr Ramnarine and the fact that the latter went to the media and the public first should cause both the Minister and the Top Cop to ponder why this was so. Is it the case, perhaps, that the fabric of trust, respect, discipline and order in the force has been so rent that a Commander and an Assistant Commissioner felt no compunction to observe whatever rules exist? It is for Mr Ramnarine to say why he did not seek recourse within the force to clarify how the money was distributed.
Now that the matter has been raised in the public domain and there is a significant contention about the facts it would have been appropriate for there to be a simple audit of the transfer of the sum from the ministry to the police force and its distribution. Done by the audit office or an external auditor, the findings would have allayed any fears of sleight of hand particularly in the backdrop of the former government’s flagrant abuse of state resources in the recent general elections campaign. Such a move would however not be entertained as there is too much risk involved to the reputation of the government and the Minister predictably said no to it.
Instead, Mr Rohee lugubriously teed off into the well-worn mindset that the opposition and some sections of the media were troublemakers. Said he: ”It has long been established that Opposition political parties and sections of the Media have for one reason or another adopted a hostile, non-supportive and biased stand” towards the police and further, that “(i)n today’s context any violation of the force’s Standing Orders must be seen as supportive of the prevailing thrust of the political opposition as well as the opposite media”. How he leapt to that conclusion will take some explaining even if it was a non-sequitur. He then tried to further isolate Mr Ramnarine when he railed that “To defend the Officer’s violation of the Police Standing Orders is a clear indication of the Opposition’s predisposition to encourage lawlessness, indiscipline and total disrespect for long standing protocols within the Guyana Police Force. The Ministry of Home Affairs denounces these unsavoury tactics and wishes to make it clear to those who seek to promote such acts of indiscipline within the (GPF) that they will not succeed”.
Not only is Minister Rohee trying to cow and intimidate Mr Ramnarine he is also categorizing as lawless anyone rising to the Commander’s defence. The matter of the Commander’s putative breaches of Standing Orders and other rules is first in the purview of the police force, the Police Service Commission and the police association, not Minister Rohee.
Second, considering that Mr Ramnarine was not disclosing operational matters but rather concerns about accountability in an organization not well recognized for accountability there is no problem in his going to the public.
Third, where a Commander believes, as it was clearly the case here, that he would not have a sympathetic ear in the force his constitutional right to free speech superseded any strictures that might have ordinarily restrained him. Especially in light of this government’s legendary lockdown on information and its refusal to be transparent, Mr Ramnarine’s effort to have this matter elucidated in public should be defended and he should suffer no penalty as a result. Moreover, the matter of the $90M is still unsettled in the minds of the public and this is what Minister Rohee should set about addressing diligently.
Finally, neither Minister Rohee nor anyone in the government has addressed the charge by Mr Ramnarine that it was the Commissioner-on-leave, Mr Henry Greene who advised commanders to do their best to gather money from businessmen and others to take care of the needs of the force members during the elections. It would not be surprising as this has been a feature of policing. Such practices however make the police vulnerable to the corrupt ways of some of these very businessmen and `benefactors’ and create an unending cycle of favours and graft. That culture must be broken down conclusively if the force is to lift itself out of corruption and the Minister would be well within his bailiwick to ascertain from Mr Greene if this was so and to take what ever policy steps are necessary to end this.
