The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) headed by Lenox Shuman on Tuesday night released its manifesto for the next general election and on the security front it envisages the urgent establishment of a team to reform the safety and security agencies in the country.
The LJP said that the policies and ideas in the manifesto are the result of nation-wide consultations that the LJP-Team 2019 had with Guyanese of every walk of life.
“We attentively listened to your concerns and suggestions, and shared your dreams for yourselves, your children and for our country. On this basis we developed this Manifesto with two parts; Urgent Tasks – Our Crucial Six-Month Plan; and Our Five-Year Transformative Programs. The items under Crucial Six-Month Plan are those national imperative issues on which we will intercede immediately – on assuming office”, the document said.
On the security front, it said that a Special Urgent-Task Team (SUTT) for Safety & Security will be entrusted the responsibility of reforming the safety and security agencies of Guyana.
Among its plans if it succeeded at the elections will be the appointment of four temporary judges to help clear the backlog of serious criminal cases within six months.
It said that it will put an end to the low morale now crippling the Guyana Police Force (GPF), by appointing officers at every level, as a matter of urgency.
Among its other plans in this sector were:
- Use of technology – with a smart and integrated 5G-based surveillance system, we will improve law enforcement to support our Police Services. Smart technologies will ensure that appropriately encrypted GPS trackers are placed on every piece of Police Equipment to provide real time tracking of service vehicles and personnel. This will work to tackle corruption-chains and unexplained wealth, the manifesto said.
- Encourage greater emphasis on community-based policing; ensuring street lights are up and working to make communities safer.
- Coordinating with regional and global security agencies to control the flow of guns with a view to building an effective Caribbean partnership to tackle this scourge.
- Reduce the number of firearms in the hands of civilians and in communities by offering a six-month gun amnesty and buy-back program for legal and illegal firearms.
- Increasing the size of the GPF by appointing administrative staff to perform non-policing functions so as to allow police officers to focus on their primary role in maintaining law and order and improving the GPF pay-scales and other benefits.
- Equipping police force officers with smartphones and body-cams, outfitting police cars with tablet computers and dash-cams and expanding the use of CCTV cameras in high traffic areas, in order to enhance the GPF’s detection rate and enforcement capability; and we would digitise all police processes.
- Policing and Oversight body for the Police Services – it is our view that a single tier Policing System is unacceptable as it does not meet the needs of our progressive nation. It is therefore important that all our structures are reinforced with the kinds of systems that guarantee public trust and confidence in our Police Services, the manifesto asserted. “It becomes important therefore for us to have a higher monitoring agency for our law enforcement agencies. This unit will be answerable directly to a non-partisan parliamentary committee”, the LJP added.
- Appropriately trained and equipped Police Services – Public trust in our Police Services is paramount to a law-abiding society. It is therefore incumbent upon us that we have highly trained Police Service Members. This will work to ensure that our laws are enforced to a point where professional integrity is beyond reproach. This will be accomplished by transforming the Police services where psychometric evaluation will be conducted on all members and recruits. Coupled with a comprehensive remuneration and benefits package that will be equated to certification, it will help to ensure that all services members are suitably qualified and physically fit and will approach their work with the utmost professionalism and objectivity.
- Building comprehensive police infrastructure, well-built and well-equipped police stations to support Policing for efficient and effective law enforcement on par with the world standards was also pledged.
Shuman, a Guyanese with dual citizenship, has said that he is renouncing his Canadian citizenship to contest the elections. He was formerly the Toshao of Pakuri and a senior member of the National Toshaos Council.
