Georgetown: Today marks one hundred days since the APNU+AFC committed itself to the fulfillment of a 100 Days Action Plan deliverable by August 24, 2015.
According to the PPP/C in its missive, “the PPP/C wishes to bring to the attention of the public that of twenty-one (21) actions, seven (7) were to be delivered via budget 2015, eight (8) were in progress, four (4) are in an advanced progress while two (2) are partially complete.
In sum, none of the actions contemplated have been fully implemented save for the holding of two (2) conferences or talk shops and two (2) pieces of questionable legislation which will not bring any immediate relief to the suffering and hard working Guyanese.
The ludicrous claim by Harmon that his government deserves an ‘A’ grade for delivery on its 100 days promises is most a presumptuous statement. Nagamootoo’s update scheduled for this week will in no way bring any relief or satisfaction to the Guyanese who will undoubtedly give an ‘F’ grade to the coalition government. “
Number fourteen (14) of the Action Plan is the establishment of a “Task Force on Crime and Security and on Road Safety”.
This plan has not been realized. In the meantime, the crime situation has become unpardonable and abominable.
Statistics will show that for the first hundred days of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government there were 147 serious crimes including twenty-six (26) murders, five (5) attempted murders, thirty-nine (39) robbery under arms, eight (8) cases of seized firearms and twenty-one (21) possession of narcotics occurred.
The situation has deteriorated to the extent where residents at the Corentyne, Berbice took to the streets to protest the lack of security and protection and called for the dismissal of Ramjattan as Public Security Minister. Many people see him as completely hopeless and unsuitable for the job.
Guyanese are becoming more and more fed up with the excuses and platitudes being trotted out to them by government spokesmen telling the criminals and the population “We are coming after you”, “the crime situation is under control”, “measures are in place to tackle the upsurge in crimes” and that “the state will not sit idly by and allow criminals to run riot in the streets”.
Confusion is at its highest insofar as who is really in charge of the Security Sector with Granger, Harmon, Collins and Ramjattan all vying for publicity and who claim to be security and intelligence experts except Ramjattan who claims to have all the solutions.
Collins having intruded in the portfolio of Ramjattan was expected to present his recommendations to Granger at the end of August while the Commissioner of Police was expected to have delivered his proposals already. In the meantime, while we heard that Ramjattan was “fine-tuning” the plan which was delivered at Cabinet only last week.
More recently, an apologetic, back sliding statement came from Granger himself, when he is purported to have said “Turning the tide in the crime fight is impossible in only three months”.
Mr. Granger has obviously had a rude awakening and has set himself a time frame in military style for “turning the tide” in the fight against crimes.
Most importantly, he is apparently laboring under the impression that his fellow countrymen are a forgetful people and that they have completely forgotten what he told his Constituents on the campaign trail about bringing down the crime situation with his magic wand or his only silver bullet.
It is laughable for Granger to claim that the police now have “a more efficient reporting system” that allows them to churn out information more rapidly thus creating the impression that the crime situation is spiraling out of control.
Is Mr. Granger suggesting that should the police slow-down their efficient reporting system” we will see a drop in crime?
The truth is that the GPF over the years has developed a well established reporting system on the crime and road traffic situations in Guyana whereby monthly statistical reports are issued. Every day a crime bulletin is circulated to members of the Security Sector and every morning the Minister of Home Affairs receives a phone call from the Commissioner of Police to update him on the crime and traffic situation in the country.
Further, the claim that the Granger Administration inherited a “weak Police Force” and that it was “kept weak by the Jagdeo Administration” is a blatant lie.
At none of the Presidential and Ministerial engagements with the Commissioner of Police and Commanders of the Police Force during the PPP/C tenure in office was such a view ever expressed by the Police Force’s hierarchy.
Further, the promises to bring Heaven on Earth to the effect that Guyanese “will be able to live in a safe environment….” is nothing but wishful thinking. Already Guyanese are experiencing a living hell under the Granger Administration economically and socially.
And all the talk that the “areas of focus” will be piracy, improved policing groups and patrols is disingenuous to say the least.
The PPP/C Administration in fulfillment of its anti-piracy plan spent billions on the procurement of boats and training of ranks to strengthen the Marine Wing of the GPF. $4.4 million was spent to rehabilitate the central Marine station at Ruimveldt. Outboard motors, Ballahoos, aluminum and a work boat costing a whopping $721 million were procured.
Vehicles and equipment costing $218 million together with Cabinet’s approval to increase the establishment of the GPF from 3,410 to 4,596 ranks along with approval to increase the strength of the Special Constabulary from 322 to 968 cannot by any stretch of imagination be deemed a weakening of the GPF.
Further, Mr. Granger “referred to improved Community Policing Groups and patrols” – a total fallacy.
In the 2015 Budget there is no provision under Capital for Community Policing Organization of Guyana. Contrary to what Ramjattan told the National Assembly that the vehicles seized from the CPGs and handed over to the police would be returned to the CPGs and that there is provision in the 2015 budget for additional vehicles.
Ramjattan has actually crippled the CPGs. Apart from taking away vehicles assigned to the CPG. He has dismissed a number of Liaison Officers and replaced them with AFC activists who have tainted police records.
Finally, in respect to the use of technology to fight crime, it should be pointed out that under the PPP/C Administration a plan was already being implemented through the use of the CCTV cameras in the city from historical to real time data gathering and utilization.
The plan was to integrate web based crime maps with the CCTV cameras and to extend crime mapping to cover every Police Division especially the city.
It is high time that the Granger Administration come clean and let the Guyanese people know that they have failed miserably in addressing crime in Guyana and that all the talk about a plan being ‘fine-tuned’ and that a “five point plan” was being implemented means nothing to the Guyanese people when every day of its 100 Days Action Plan crime is reeling out of control.”
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