With the oil and gas sector coming on stream, the security sector will be enhanced to cater for changes that will be required to ensure national security.
According to British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, an assessment was done to cater for this aspect of the Security Sector Reform.

“We have just competed the latest assessment consultancy which is the maritime report and that report is currently in preparation and will be submitted to the President and other members of the security operations here within the next few week,” the diplomat told Guyana Chronicle.

He said much effort was put into the consideration of the country’s emerging oil and gas sector and the needs of Guyana as it seeks to protect its assets, investments and investors within the oil and gas sector.

Quinn said the measures examined have not only catered for the current activities taking place offshore and in Guyana’s exclusive Economic zone but rather for the years to come.

“One of the key things and I think this is one of the reasons we did sort of the maritime assessment is because we need to see what capabilities Guyana needs to protect the offshore developments and so I think there are still works to be done to develop those capacities to ensure that Guyana can protect its Exclusive Economic Zone and obviously that includes a large portion of the existing oil exploration and also the oil exploration that will be happening going forward not only by Exxon but by companies such as Tullow and Repsol and others,” he said.

The maritime assessment consultancy was the final activity in relation to the Security Sector Reform for the current financial year of the UK which runs from April to March.
Quinn said all the activities for the Security Sector Reform which were planned for the period have been completed and work is moving to the next phase.

“So we are now currently at the situational time where we are thinking about what happens next year, the next financial year that is,” he said.

The diplomat even through satisfied with the pace of work in relation to the reform, said things could have been done a bit faster.
The UK and Guyana are at a stage where attention is placed on the implementation phase of the programme.

“This is all part of the process which needs to move from assessment to implementation and we have spent the last couple of years looking at the assessment phase and seeing what needs to be done and we now need to move to the implementation phase and I think that is what we want to see coming the next financial year,” he said.

Quinn also said he would like to see things done in accordance with the programme timeframe but is cognisant that at the end of the day, the programme is Guyanese-owned.
In August last year at the appointment of Commissioner of Police Leslie James, President David Granger said he hopes James would be the commissioner to lead the police reform aspect of the Security Sector Reform.

James had promised that by the first quarter of this year, the country could expect to see implementation of reform of the Police Force.