President David Granger yesterday convened a high-level security meeting on developing a strategy to address the recent upsurge in crimes and government afterward emphasised that it would be going after criminals.
A report issued by the Government Information Agency (GINA) stated that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally, Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Colonel Khemraj Persaud were in attendance at the meeting with the president. The presence of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the GDF would suggest that the government was contemplating using it in the crime fight.
It was stated that there were initial discussions for the development of a broad-based strategic crime fighting approach that will deliver short and long term goals.
“The clear message coming out of this initial meeting is that the Administration intends to move swiftly and vigorously to arrest violent crime in Guyana,” the report said.
It added that more details of the meeting and information on further engagements will be made available to the public shortly as the government intensifies its efforts to tackle the escalating crime situation.
Efforts by this newspaper last evening to get more information on what was discussed were unsuccessful.
The GINA report also said that the administration’s message to criminals is: “We are coming after you.”
For the past six weeks, there have been almost daily reports of serious crimes and some have resulted in death and serious injury. The situation has left many citizens feeling fearful.
Observers have pointed out that both the previous government and the Guyana Police Force have failed miserably to deal with the crime situation knowing that during the June to August period there would be a rise in crimes given the increase in commercial activity. Former police commissioner Henry Greene had said in 2010 that the force has recognised that there was a link between the upsurge in armed robberies for hard cash and big entertainment shows headlined by international artists during the July/August period. However, there was little to show that the force or the then government did anything to address this situation.
