…Ramjattan seeks bigger subvention for Salvation Army

MINISTER of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan has commended the work of the Salvation Army’s Drug Rehabilitation Programame, stating that it stands in his estimation as the number one humanitarian programme in the country.
Alluding to the annual subvention of $10M granted to the organisation by the government to administer the programme, Ramjattan said based on the remarkable results being seen,he is of the view that this amount should be increased, adding that he thinks the programme is being ‘short-changed’.
Minister Ramjattan made these remarks on Saturday evening as he delivered the feature address at the Salvation Army Men’s Social Service Centre’s Fifth Gala Fund Raising Dinner at the Pegasus Hotel, Savannah Suite. Minister Ramjattan was at the time performing the duties of the President who is the patron of the organisation. His Excellency President David Granger is on official business in Saudi Arabia.
Under the theme, “Mobilising to reduce the scourge of drug in our society,” Ramjattan commended what he described as the “noble humanitarian work of the Salvation Army in Guyana. “Indeed I want to believe that the work of the Salvation Army is just magnificent and with the little that they do, it has to be that they are all men and women here who not only give of their possession and their time, but they give of themselves.” Citing Khalil Gibran take on ‘giving of self’ he quoted: “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
Meanwhile, on the subject of the subvention granted by government for the drug rehabilitation programme, Ramjattan said the grant now stands at $10 M per year. He said however, knowing of the work they have been doing, “I’d rather suspect that we are short changing them…We have to do better than that,” he declared, to applause from the supportive gathering. Ramjattan, though acknowledging that both he and President Granger would want to do much more than that, pondered the realities of where would the money come from, concluding, by and large, that: “… yes, the commitment is there and we will try our best to do as much as possible to give more than the $10M.” Minister Ramjattan however, submitted that support of that nature can also come from other activities.
Substance
Turning his attention to the abuse of drugs, Ramjattan said the number of Guyana’s young people falling prey to substance abuse was pathetic. He alluded to the large number of people plagued with poverty, which runs across the Caribbean and Latin America and sees drugs, crime and poverty as going hand in hand, adding that it is now most rampant in Latin America as against other areas in the world.
He said that while Guyana does not produce cocaine, sordidly, this country has come to be seen as a drug trans-shipment point, since coca- producing countries send the cocaine to Guyana; it’s airlifted and dropped off in the interior, then brought to Georgetown for onward trans- shipment to other countries, using various means. Likewise, he said there are people who will distribute it, so that it filters down to persons who eventually become substance abusers.
The minister said this issue is creating an additional problem for Guyana, and noted that it is precisely why it was necessary for the government only a couple of months ago to launch the Drug Master Plan Strategy for the years 2017- 2018. “
“In that plan, major developments in relation to interdiction; major developments as to how we go about working with our partners internationally, especially the Drug Reinforcement Agency…How it would strengthen those International Organisations like Interpol and Europol. And for the very first time – getting more scholarships for our policemen and officers and agents of CANU to do the interdictions,” Minister Ramjattan said.
To this end the minister said that it was important that those law-enforcement measures be complemented by what is being done here by the Salvation Army, in relation to the victims that this scourge has created.” He outlined that it is the distribution market that creates the victim, with the result that agencies like the Salvation Army, Phoenix Home and government have to do the work of rehabilitating those who have become victims of the scourge.