Dear Editor,
News that the Guyana Defence Force “is poised to receive two new planes, courtesy of the Chinese Embassy” is to be welcomed. The GDF’s air wing capacity needs to be enhanced by all means. Ongoing capitalization of the GDF has been on Defence Board’s agenda ever since the PPP/C administration. It is not a one-off exercise. The process began under the PPP/C administration and from all indications continues under the APNU+AFC coalition administration.
Suffice it to say, in those days the Defence Board also paid attention to ways and means of building the capacity of the Guyana Police Force marine and aeronautical branches. It was considered foolhardy to neglect these two important if not vital operational aspects of the GPF’s mandate, especially in the context of frontier security and piracy challenges facing the premier law enforcement agency of our country.
After all, notwithstanding the bleatings of the APNU+AFC when they were in opposition that they would stop the drugs, the foreigners and the guns from illegally penetrating our borders, these other ‘three horsemen’ continue to do so because of the failure of the so-called security experts at the Ministry of the Presidency.
And just as President David Granger has admitted his administration’s failure to attract foreign investments to our sagging economy, in the same way he must admit that his security platform has collapsed under his feet. Here’s what the President said in an interview in mid-September last year: “I would like to see a better equipped Police Force, I’d like to see policemen better paid. I want to see police units with boats, with ATV’s and with aircraft.”
The question puzzling Guyanese in general and most victims of crime in particular is, what is preventing the President from directing the Finance Minister to allocate the resources required to procure these for the Guyana Police Force?
In respect to aircraft for the Guyana Police Force, Section 2 Cap 16:01 of the Guyana Police Force Act states: “The Force shall … perform such military duties within Guyana as may be required of it by or under the Authority of the Minister.” It further states: “The Force, or any part thereof specified in any proclamation as aforesaid, shall be a military force liable to be employed on military duties in defence of Guyana, and members of the Force to whom the proclamation applies shall hold, in addition to their police ranks under this Act, such military ranks as may be determined by regulations made by the Minister.”
This operational mandate of the Force is not futuristic, it is even necessary now. There is a crying need for selected ranks of the GPF to be trained in aeronautics and aviation skills, given the fact that the security challenges that face our country today will continue to do so for a long time into the future.
And just in case the perennial question is asked, why didn’t we do it when we were in government? The response is that in late 2012, on the request of the then Ministry of Home Affairs, several police ranks at the level of cadets were selected by the office of the then Commissioner of Police to be trained at the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School at Ogle. It was agreed that these ranks would also undergo training at the GDF’s aeronautical wing. The ranks were all interviewed by Captains Gerry Gouveia, Alwyn Clarke (deceased) and Learie Berkley. A short list was drawn up based on all those who were interviewed and were deemed highly qualified to proceed with the necessary training. However, the process ran into a snag because the Force claimed that it could not afford to have the cadets off the job at a time when their services were needed to perform police duties at the appropriate levels. In so far as funding for the training of the ranks was concerned the then Home Affairs Ministry had adopted a phased budgetary approach commencing from fiscal year 2013.
The APNU+AFC coalition must stop pussyfooting in respect to the President’s identified needs for the Guyana Police Force. If it is a question of affordability, then real concrete meaning must be given to the concept of ‘Joint Services’ whereby resources such as planes assigned to the GDF must be equally assigned to the GPF and a joint command guided by a joint operational manual formulated and agreed by all the relevant parties should be put into effect. CANU together with the GPF should also have access to the aircraft to carry out joint anti-drug operations in the interior of the country.
The call emanating from the recent Inter-sessional meeting of Caricom Heads of Government for more to be done in the fight against crime will end up dead in the water, like so many other calls if at the national level capacities are not built up to enhance regional capacities.
It is high time that Caricom leaders, having considered the challenge regionally, now act nationally.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J Rohee