A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Leader David Granger yesterday flayed government over the non-provision of raw data for rapes and suicides.
Granger also blasted the police’s community outreach programmes, positing that they are not helping in bringing crime down and called on government to make public a plan to deal with rising crime levels.
“Forget the frills and cosmetic programmes …The President and the Minister of Home Affairs must explain to the nation exactly how they intend to stop the surge in violent crime,” Granger said yesterday.
As he made reference to a programme launched in Albouystown, which aims at having better police/residents relationships, while eliminating criminal elements from the community, Granger opined that it was “ornamental.”
“If they are so successful how come they don’t take the programme to other communities? Because they are failing,” he said.
The party’s shadow Minister of Home Affairs Winston Felix, a former police commissioner, said policies on crime have to be dealt with holistically and community projects are not producing the desired effect of lowering crime.
“When you are going to talk about the success of Albouystown I don’t know from which angle they are talking about… What has it done to put dent a crime nationally? If you can’t show me the success on broader terms don’t talk to me on a little friendly programme in Albouystown,” he stated.
Granger also rubbished government’s justification for the non-provision of public data on suicides, rape, piracy and river deaths saying there can be no excuse and they have to take the flack not the agencies.
“The police must report on all the data that surround these violent crimes so we don’t have to guess …We must know how many crimes have been reported and how many persons have died and not do our own calculations,” he stated.
“They just give a few murders and traffic accidents and leave out the rapes and suicides,” he added.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon on Wednesday had lamented the tardiness of the police and ministry of health in not making public raw data on suicides stressing that calls by his government seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Granger would not accept Luncheon’s statement and said that government should be held accountable for the police and other respective agency’s tardiness in not providing the information.
“It is unacceptable for the Secretary of the Defence Board, Secretary to the Cabinet, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Chairman of the Central Intelligence Committee-four titles Dr Luncheon has-to make such a comment,” he stressed.
“If the public is to be made aware of the seriousness of the crime situation they have to be given the data and what Luncheon said is not acceptable to an enlightened public,” he added.
He also called on journalists to “squeeze more juice out of the orange” and probe deeper so that the public can be made aware of data.
