July 5 ,2021
The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Saturday declared that the creation of a “new force” by the PPP/C government would formalize the “existing practice of treating [the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force] as subject to political direction.”
A statement issued by the association stressed that the efficiency and professionalism of both forces require in general less, not more, political interference.
At its last sitting the National Assembly approved more than $700M to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) for the establishment of a new crime-fighting `Regional Joint Support team’.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira who presented the request to the House explained that the Regional Joint Support Team is a “new initiative” that was set up to aid the crime fighting capacity of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
She said it will consist of members of the GPF and GDF, and if the need arises more recruits will be hired by the respective organisations.
The Minister refused to provide information on the protocols which would govern the actions of these support teams or the reporting hierarchy of the team saying that it was a national security issue.
Former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has publicly said that the teams would be unconstitutional since crime fighting comes under the Police Act and does not routinely include the GDF.
“This is what makes it so unconstitutional. The army has national security interest to look after. The army cannot get involved unless the criminality of the situation is so high and rampant that it is leading to a national security crisis, the police can then call them in….They are always a supplementary force for purposes to help the police but they cannot be a frontline force,” he told Stabroek News.
On Saturday evening the GHRA also expressed major concern that the investigations of the murders of Isaiah and Joel Henry as well as Haresh Singh were being tainted by a “larger confrontation currently taking place between the political directorate and the Guyana Police Force.”
They reminded that attempts to invite the internationally renowned and politically impartial Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF) to investigate these murders in December 2020 was frustrated by the refusal of permission by the Ministry of Home Affairs to allow the Director of the EAAF to interact with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during an exploratory visit.
“Moreover, formal assurances of exchanges of information were never followed through,” the GHRA recalled, adding that sacrificing the fragile professionalism of the GPF and the CID in particular to political purposes is a high-risk strategy.