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THE Home Affairs Ministry on Friday stated that misleading information published by the Kaieteur News (KN) is yet another attempt by the paper to create tension and conflict between the Ministry and the Guyana Police Force. The Ministry in a statement was responding to an article in the Kaieteur News dated June 20, 2013, captioned ‘Senior Police Officers accuse Rohee of taking oversight too far’.
According to the release, the Ministry is deeply concerned over the misleading information being peddled “as well as the allegations attributed to senior officers of the Guyana Police Force that the Minister of Home Affairs is ‘abusing his civilian oversight functions’.”
The release further stated that at the Police Change Team meeting to which reference was made in the KN article, there was no discussion on Annual Vacation Leave for Police Officers, although it is known that Assistant Commissioner Josiah has strong views on the subject.
The Ministry in the release said, however, that what arose at the meeting was a status report on a proposal by the Home Affairs Ministry for consideration by the Guyana Police Force on the establishment of Cops and Faith Community Network.
“The objective of this programme is to have the police and pastors working together to prevent violence in communities instead of the police picking up youths and charging them for certain minor offences. The Pastors would counsel and mentor the youths in an effort to help them to move away from their deviant behaviour,” the release explained.
The release further explained that the matter was discussed at the senior management level of the Police Force and generally accepted, but at the meeting with the Minister, a certain senior rank aired his differences with the Ministry on the matter and the Minister indicated that he would discuss the matter further with the Commissioner who was not present at the said meeting.
The statement indicated that “the Minister did not at any time during the meeting seek to ‘deny retired officers their benefits or make them beg’ for it, as is being bandied about. Lack of attention to details of the discussion at the meeting could have been the reason for this misunderstanding.”
According to the release, senior officers of the Guyana Police Force are eligible for 42 days Annual Vacation Leave, a position which has not changed, but consideration must be given to maintaining adequate levels of command in the Guyana Police Force at all times
“The reality is that currently there are nine Assistant Commissioners, four of whom are substantive Commanders and five of whom are based at the Police Headquarters. There are six Senior Superintendents of Police performing the role of Commanders; three at Divisions and the remaining three at Police Headquarters. These Commanders all have applied for Annual Vacation Leave during the period June to September 2013,” the release explained
The Ministry in the release further explained that if this situation is not properly managed, there could be an instance where at some point during this period all the Commanders will be on Vacation Leave.
The Ministry stated clearly it is for this reason that it was considered wise for the Annual Leave to be staggered so that an adequate number of senior officers are available in the event of any unforeseen situation.
“In this way Officers can be granted Annual Leave at various periods during the year rather than all at the same time,” the release explained.
According to the release, the current political and public order climate needs to be monitored closely, as threats to the maintenance of peace and good order in Guyana continue to be made by the political opposition as demonstrated by their support for the call made by Mr. Mark Benchop to ‘begin finding ways to shut the country down, either by blocking all roads, highways, bridges, airports’, in his protest against the proposed increase in electricity rates.”
Additionally, the release stated that the crime and traffic situation also needs to be kept under tight control.
“There must also be a high level of proficiency and response capability within the Force in case of any eventuality, since given the experiences at Linden and Agricola, the political opposition cannot be deemed trustworthy in so far as the maintenance of peace and good order in Guyana is concerned,” the release pointed out.
According to the release, the Ministry is deeply concerned over the misleading information being peddled “as well as the allegations attributed to senior officers of the Guyana Police Force that the Minister of Home Affairs is ‘abusing his civilian oversight functions’.”
The release further stated that at the Police Change Team meeting to which reference was made in the KN article, there was no discussion on Annual Vacation Leave for Police Officers, although it is known that Assistant Commissioner Josiah has strong views on the subject.
The Ministry in the release said, however, that what arose at the meeting was a status report on a proposal by the Home Affairs Ministry for consideration by the Guyana Police Force on the establishment of Cops and Faith Community Network.
“The objective of this programme is to have the police and pastors working together to prevent violence in communities instead of the police picking up youths and charging them for certain minor offences. The Pastors would counsel and mentor the youths in an effort to help them to move away from their deviant behaviour,” the release explained.
The release further explained that the matter was discussed at the senior management level of the Police Force and generally accepted, but at the meeting with the Minister, a certain senior rank aired his differences with the Ministry on the matter and the Minister indicated that he would discuss the matter further with the Commissioner who was not present at the said meeting.
The statement indicated that “the Minister did not at any time during the meeting seek to ‘deny retired officers their benefits or make them beg’ for it, as is being bandied about. Lack of attention to details of the discussion at the meeting could have been the reason for this misunderstanding.”
According to the release, senior officers of the Guyana Police Force are eligible for 42 days Annual Vacation Leave, a position which has not changed, but consideration must be given to maintaining adequate levels of command in the Guyana Police Force at all times
“The reality is that currently there are nine Assistant Commissioners, four of whom are substantive Commanders and five of whom are based at the Police Headquarters. There are six Senior Superintendents of Police performing the role of Commanders; three at Divisions and the remaining three at Police Headquarters. These Commanders all have applied for Annual Vacation Leave during the period June to September 2013,” the release explained
The Ministry in the release further explained that if this situation is not properly managed, there could be an instance where at some point during this period all the Commanders will be on Vacation Leave.
The Ministry stated clearly it is for this reason that it was considered wise for the Annual Leave to be staggered so that an adequate number of senior officers are available in the event of any unforeseen situation.
“In this way Officers can be granted Annual Leave at various periods during the year rather than all at the same time,” the release explained.
According to the release, the current political and public order climate needs to be monitored closely, as threats to the maintenance of peace and good order in Guyana continue to be made by the political opposition as demonstrated by their support for the call made by Mr. Mark Benchop to ‘begin finding ways to shut the country down, either by blocking all roads, highways, bridges, airports’, in his protest against the proposed increase in electricity rates.”
Additionally, the release stated that the crime and traffic situation also needs to be kept under tight control.
“There must also be a high level of proficiency and response capability within the Force in case of any eventuality, since given the experiences at Linden and Agricola, the political opposition cannot be deemed trustworthy in so far as the maintenance of peace and good order in Guyana is concerned,” the release pointed out.
