Guyana - UK Security Reform collapsed over foreign police recruitment- Rohee | | Print | |
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol |
Thursday, 03 January 2013 19:05 |
Guyana ditched the 4.9 million pound sterling British-funded Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) several years ago partly because government did not want foreign police officers take up senior positions in the local police force, Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee said Thursday. “What was being proposed then was the recruitment of experts to be in line positions, meaning that if you had vacancies for three Assistant Commissioners, you must take those individuals who are coming from overseas and put them in those positions. That is what we did not agree to,” he told reporters. He was at the time defending the decision to allow international police officers to work on several aspects of reform of the Guyana Police Force through a consultancy by the British firm, Capita Symonds, which has been recruited directly by the government after SSRP negotiations had collapsed. He reiterated that alongside the 2013-2017 Strategic Plan, Capita Symonds could be allowed to bring in international police officers (IPOs) to address four critical areas- Administration, Succession Planning, Integrity/Probity (Professionalization) and Public Relations/Communication. “We are not going to fill vacancies that have to be agreed to by the Police Service Commission or the Commissioner by thee IPOs. What they are going to be work as are consultants with the organisation that is totally Guyanese,” he added. Rohee said foreign police officers would not be inserted into the recently renamed Guyana Police Service but would work alongside local officers. Guyana and Britain in 2007 had inked a Memorandum of Understanding for the SSRP but two years later Britain pulled out over concerns about accountability for British taxpayers’ money. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Thursday noted that the Home Affairs Minister had effectively ruled out resident experts in the police force because the Guyana Police Force had already gone a far way in its reforms. He had said that the force and the country had enough experts. “When it comes to bringing experts to Guyana for the security sector that is a no go.” |