Seems like there is no law in Guyana.

Govt implores UK’s help as crime soars

President David Granger addressing the gathering at the PSC AGM on Monday

Amid soaring levels of crime President David Granger on Monday announced that his Government was seeking to have the United Kingdom designed Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP) revived and has approached the British Government for assistance in this regard.

The US$4.7 billion programme was scrapped by the UK some years ago after major disagreements with the then Bharrat Jagdeo Administration over some of the conditions of the plan. Granger made the announcement while addressing members of the diplomatic corps; executive members of the Private Sector Commission (PSC); and members of the business community, at the PSC’s 23rd Annual General Meeting at the Savannah Suite in Pegasus. Back in 2009, Guyana virtually walked away from the security reform programme, saying that   aspects of the project threatened to encroach on this country’s sovereignty.

However, the British had contended then that the Guyana Government proposed a “fundamentally different” programme, focused on Police modernisation rather than the holistic reform originally requested. The UK’s proposed project had aimed to build a sustainable foundation for improving national security and reducing serious crime in Guyana by 2011. To this end, it spoke to the need for implementation of a national security plan and the security sector reform and to increase public confidence in Government’s response to security issues.

 

National security policy

It had also explained that developing a national security policy, as well as establishing management and oversight structures and building capacity within the Police Force were all crucial to responding to serious crime. The proposal had set out almost three dozen activities with detailed milestones and specific timelines until 2011. Towards the development of the security reform strategy, the targets included a series of public stakeholder consultations and training to strengthen parliamentary oversight, throughout the lifetime of the project. These were aimed at building government capacity for managing the reforms, developing a national security policy and a reform strategy, establishing accountability and oversight of the security sector, strengthening the professional standards and service delivery of the Police Force and establishing an effective structure for managing the reform project.

The proposal listed specific activities to be carried out in each area, ranging from the recruitment of staff, the design of legislative strategies, parliamentary programmes to public consultations and workshops. The proposal also had identified potential risks to these processes, including “weak” Government and Police Force commitment to and ownership of holistic reform; the unwillingness of civil society to participate in consultations and/or consultations that are not inclusive and therefore compromised; and a lack of commitment by Members of Parliament (MPs) to their oversight role.

 

Granger’s plea

At the PSC’s forum, the Head of State said the programme must be reintroduced since the country needed to be safe. “When people overseas hear about pirates killing fishermen and miners being robbed or when they hear persons returning to attend some wedding and being shot at, they don’t want to come to Guyana,” Granger said, continuing that “we need to deal with this public security problem. We are part of the continental landmass and we are not going to get rid of transnational crime overnight…Our borders are susceptible to gun running, trafficking and we need to ensure that our Police Force and Defence Force are effectively deployed,” the Head of State said to a rousing round of applause.

 

Looking to see

Meanwhile, British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn told media operatives just after the ceremony on Monday that the SSRAP is a long historical agreement which came to fruition in 2007 and which was cancelled in 2009, because the then Government had thought that it “did not meet the requirements that they wanted”

He related that Guyana’s Government has asked his Government to resuscitate the agreement. “What we are actually doing is looking to see if the agreement as it was nine years ago is still relevant  and does it need updating. Then how do we go about meeting the requirements of Government in terms of updating the original plan?” he said.

Asked how soon the plan could “swing into action”, Quinn said he could not say, but much work needed to be done including finding the person or team that had carried out the original assessment, then seeking to ascertain if they were available to do another such assessment of the programme. He could not say too if the money was still available from the previous project. And while funding will be provided for this new project, he could not say on what basis this will be done.

 

20/20 vision

Meanwhile, Granger told the gathering that he has laid out his plans for what he called the “2020 vision” for the life of the 11th Parliament. “This will take us from now until 2020, when, without prorogation and without dissolution, Parliament should come to its natural end.”

He said his mission over the next five years was to implement those plans with the support of all sectors of society. He restated that the business community remained an integral part of development and that many of the plans he has for the next five years would not be accomplished without the help of the PSC. The Head of State said he wanted to see improved infrastructure across Guyana, noting that all of the natural resources Guyana possessed could not be developed without proper infrastructure. High on Government’s agenda, Granger stressed, was security, not only for the Private Sector and its members, but for all Guyanese.

GUYANA SKONT GONE FUH CHANNA.  APACK OF CRIMINALS AND TWO HOUSE SLAVES WERE GIVEN POWER BY A RIGGED ELECTION.  NOW IS BURNHAM TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  TEK AM IN AL YUH STUPID KAKAHOLE!!!!!1

CHANGE MY ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!  CHANGE FOR THE DUMB AND STUPID PROFESSOR, WALL STREET SHIT CLEANER AND OTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pity! He never spoke up against the Freedom fighter who were actually PNC terrorists.

stop your screaming you hypocrite. You were quiet like a mouse for the duration of the past regime and it was their duty to stop this. Indeed we do seem to have a continued inability to address crime and only a paltry expression as what may be at the source.

If there is thievery in tain it is an indian on indian crime like most on the berbice coast so we need to demand vigilance and radio cars with constant patrols to cut response time. Police cannot be squatting in stations and expect criminals to stop thieving. There should be on going patrols while there should be cars placed in the perimeters of known crime areas or escape routes to apprehend ore prevent crimes.

Stoemy, You are speaking through your ass, go back and check!!!

I do not have to go back and check. My memory is sound. You were on your knees offering the PPP blow jobs left and right as rewards for their good works knowing they are obscenely crooked.

Perhaps indeed with the PNC as the government, there is no law.

Update: Diamond woman shot in leg, robbed of $200,000

July 2, 2015 4:04 pm Category: Crime A+ / A-

Woman shot during robbery at Flour Mill Road

July 2, 2015 3:07 pm Category: Crime A+ / A-

Review all gun licenses.  Only those who need a gun should be allowed to keep their licenses.

DID PRESIDENT GRANGER RELEASE FROM PRISON 90 TO TERRORISE THE NATION?

If their cases were reviewed and there is enough reasons  to cast a shadow of doubt in their conviction in the first place, then the President is within his rights to free them.

They have not given the details at a time when crime is running rampant.

Criminals have been released back.  Give us the details on these hoodlums.

You parliamentary representative, Moses Nagamootoo, should provide you with the details of these Hoodlums.

I am recommending 5000 more police officers to be hired and provide good services to the people. 

Bandits shoot female shop owner in head

A 41-year-old East Canje businesswoman is now a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the New Amsterdam Hospital after she was mercilessly shot in her head during a robbery at her business premises, Neezam Grocery and Haberdashery Store, on Monday evening. According to information, the woman, Angela Hussain,  a mother of four, and her husband Fizul ‘Neezam’ Hussain, along with three of their children – Shivana  17, her 14-year-old sister and eight year old brother-  were at home in the two-storey wood and concrete building  at Lot 62 Second Street, Palmyra, East Canje, Berbice, which houses a grocery shop below. The eldest child was not around at the time. He works in Georgetown. The family was about to close the business around 19:30 hrs on Monday, when the five armed, masked bandits barged in.  The men immediately shouted “nobody move” and ordered them to lie on the ground. The bandits demanded cash and jewellery and began brutalizing the family.

Shot in head: Angela Hussain

Injured: Faizul Hussain

Three of the bandits were armed with guns, while two had cutlasses. Two kept guard outside and fired shots to keep residents at bay, while three remain in the house and continued to terrorise the occupants. Residents from a nearby wake house were forced to retreat as the bandits threatened them not to venture any closer.  Residents said a number of shots were fired inside and out of the premises. The men concentrated their attack on the woman as they ransacked the shop and took all of the day’s sales. They demanded more money and after being told there was no more (cash), one of the bandits held the woman by her collar and pointed a gun to her head before firing a shot, as the other  intruders kept an eye on the rest of the family. The thieves were not satisfied. They returned to where the other relatives were and demanded cash and jewellery from Fizul Hussain. When he refused, he was struck about the head with the gun, a wound which required stitches.  The three children were also struck on their heads and other parts of their bodies with guns.

The shop owner’s home

Although injured, the woman was dragged upstairs. In the meantime, Fizul Hussain used the opportunity to scale the fence and ran through a swampy field.  However he was spotted by one of the bandits who was armed with a cutlass, Hussain managed to seek refuge in a neighbour’s yard. The bandits left by foot and subsequently boarded a dark coloured car that was parked in a side street and had no number plate. All of the men wore toque masks with the holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. According to residents, the ordeal lasted for more than 30 minutes and the police took some time to respond. The woman was picked up and rushed to the hospital by residents where she was admitted for emergency treatment. A number of persons have been detained as investigations continue.

Gov’t to criminals: “We are coming after you”

“We are coming after you.” This is the message that the new Administration sent out to Guyana’s criminal underworld yesterday following a high-level meeting to address the recent escalation of violent crime. President David Granger convened the meeting, and initial discussions for the development of a broad-based strategic crime fighting approach, that will deliver short and long term goals, were conducted with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally, Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Colonel Khemraj Persaud. A release issued yesterday stated that “the clear message coming out of this initial meeting is that the Administration intends to move swiftly and vigorously to arrest violent crime in Guyana.”

President David Granger, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and other officials at yesterday’s meeting (Ministry of the Presidency photo)

According to the release, more details of the meeting and information on further engagements will be made available to the public shortly, as the Government intensifies its efforts to tackle the escalating crime situation. Statistics compiled by Kaieteur News for the first six months and six days of this year, show that there have been at least 80 murders during this period. Twenty-eight of the victims were shot dead, and of this number, 14 appeared to be clear-cut execution-style killings. Many of these cases remain unsolved. The police and the new Administration have come in for criticism for the recent rise in violent crime, even though statistics released by the Force and compiled by Kaieteur News indicate that crime was on the rise from the beginning of this year. Aside from murders committed by robbers and execution-style killings, disputes and ‘crimes of passion’ accounted for most of the homicides. Fifteen women have been slain for the year, including four young females aged 19, 18, 17 and 14, and three elderly women aged 73, 67 and 68. Of this number, six were killed during confrontations with male associates; three (including two of the senior citizens), were slain during home invasions, two were found battered in remote areas; one was the victim of an execution-style murder, one died from burns after her home was set alight, one was allegedly stabbed to death by a female friend, and one of the elderly women is believed to have been slain by persons who  tried to make it appear as if she was a rape/robbery victim.