Bartica Police officers complain to junior Social Protection Minister about working conditions
Police Officers attached to the Bartica Police Station have complained about their working conditions to the Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes, about their working and living conditions at the station and they are hoping for her assistance.
According to a statement from the Government Information Agency, the officers complained of having to sleep on very uncomfortable beds, of having no washroom facilities, and being forced to use a kitchen area that is unhealthy with no proper facilities.
According to GINA, one officer said that he has to purchase his own groceries and even had to purchase a stove to cook his meal.
“The officers had to join and buy paint to give the barrack room a face lift. The staff also purchase their own drinking water, because the water from the storage tank is not healthy to drink as it is located nearby a leaking septic tank”, the release stated.
The female lockups are also in a terrible state, with food boxes and bottles on the floor.
“I would never believe that the Bartica Police Station doesn’t have a washroom area, and to even see the condition of the kitchen. You don’t even have a wash room area to say that this is the laundry area or so, not even a stove in the kitchen. This government is not the past, so we are going to do things differently,” Minister Broomes told the officers
She said that in order for the Administration to meet that mandate of ensuring that all Guyanese have a good life, “we the ministers have to go around ourselves and get the surveying done.”
It is indeed a sad situation, she said, to see where the very people who have to protect citizens are dwelling. “I am embarrassed, had I been a policeman or woman to live in this condition, I don’t think I would have endured it. For the first time I have to take my hats off to police,” Minister Broomes stressed.
She added that “… it is time that the police got some privacy and do away with the word ‘barrack room’ and move to living quarters to make police officers more comfortable.”
She said she is now in a better position to take up the matter having witnessed the situation firsthand. She added that she has made a commitment to represent the people, noting that “this is a government that is committed to all Guyanese.”
As Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Broomes has the responsibility of overlooking occupational safety and health issues.
