Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has confirmed what has been rumoured over the years that the Glenn Lall-owned Kaieteur
News pays “enormous sums” for leaks from the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Rohee was at the time giving a review of his sector last Wednesday. The Guyana Press Association (GPA) and other media bodies internationally have often warned against the unethical practice of media houses paying for information. The Kaieteur News has often criticised Police ranks for accepting bribes from ordinary citizens, to drop court cases and neglect to follow up investigations.
Rohee told the gathering at the yearend review that save for the cases of Police misconduct, an increase in disorderly murders principally caused by domestic violence, gun-related crimes and road fatalities which have undermined the public’s trust in policing, last year was an uneventful and relatively successful year for law enforcement agencies. He noted that peace and good order “in our society has prevailed. And the safety and security of the general population has improved significantly.”
He acknowledged that there will be critics and cynics nonetheless, “not to mention prophets of doom and gloom who have well established themselves through their writings in the print media criticising the Ministry of Home Affairs and the law enforcement agencies” .
In this regard, Rohee said sections of media, particularly the Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, Channels Seven and Nine, Demerara Waves, and iNews must be mentioned. “The Kaieteur News while pretending to be “a friend” of the Police pays enormous sums for leaks, while the Stabroek News is always on the lookout for potential “stellar performance” awardees, but never ever finding any in the security sector. Channels Seven and Nine, for their part, play the role of parroting what “Dem Boys Seh” about developments in the security sector. And iNews and Demerara Waves compete and jostle with each other in and out of Guyana to paint the gloomiest and crime ridden picture of the situation in Guyana.”
Sensationalising
“I mention these facts, not because the crime situation in our country must be hidden; in any event, the Police themselves publish, on a monthly basis, statistics on crime and traffic, etc. It is the sensationalising and the front-paging of these stories 365 days each year and the view that since such a practice hurt the operatives in the security sector, most of the media houses mentioned earlier consider it their duty to do more of it, moreso since it reaps huge profits,” he stated.
The Minister said the end result of this is “we have in our country deeply prejudiced and profit-driven media houses who for their own selfish interests view the Security Sector as a “golden goose” whose droppings must be exploited fully”.
Reforms
Turning his attention to the reforms within the GPF, Rohee said the current reforms were aimed at helping the Force speed up the dispensation justice by trusting their professional discretion and helping them to focus on their real purpose of crime-fighting.
“In the fight against crime, we cannot stand still; were we to do so, the criminals will move ahead of us. We always need to do better, thus Government’s Reform Plans for the GPF will continue and continue apace.
“To the hierarchy of the GPF, I say this, the lessons drawn from ingenuity and innovation boil down to the following: it does not matter how good you are, you can always do better and ultimately, it doesn’t matter how better you become, you can always strive to be the best.
“As regards the role and place of the Police, we in the PPP/C [People’s Progressive Party/Civic]Government sees things differently from our predecessors now represented in the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity] cum PNC [People’s National Congress].
“Whereas, they issued edicts and set targets, we encourage the Police to use their expertise to solve the problems they face on a daily basis.
“Our role is to set the strategic agenda, and to ensure we support the Police in reducing crime. Ultimately, it is for the Commissioner of Police (ag); the Crime Chief; and the subordinate ranks to determine how best to achieve this goal, not Ministers nor Public Servants.”
Guyana Times
