THE disclosure by the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Mr. Khurshid Sattaur that he is looking at revising systems to avert a repeat of the find in Jamaica last week of cocaine in a container loaded with lumber, since such occurrences could potentially give Guyana a bad name, is a welcome one.

But perhaps systems revision should have been a continuous exercise since,  on a daily basis, the criminals are becoming more organised, innovative and efficient in executing their activities.

In particular, the drug syndicates and cartels have been able to infiltrate governments, judicial systems, security forces, customs, airport management and almost every agency or organisation which is needed to ply the growing global drug trade.

It has been reported that the global drug trade generated an estimated US$321.6 billion in 2005. With a world GDP of US$36 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as slightly less than 1% of total global commerce. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally.

It is therefore imperative that agencies involved in combatting the illegal drug trade adequately equip themselves to deal with the new methods being used by the drug gangs.

It is indeed a difficult battle but a necessary one, because the illegal drug trade is slowly but surely destroying society – both  morally and health-wise, apart from the ruthless killings and economic and social distortions.

Mr. Sattaur has said that such occurrences as the recent cocaine bust could potentially give Guyana a bad name. He is right. But it should be added that Guyana’s image has already been tainted to some extent because it is not the first such drug bust and maybe would not be the last.

However, it is important that Mr. Sattaur recognizes the monumental role his agency has in protecting the image of this country. He, however, quite rightly, lamented the fact that his agency cannot do it alone.

“This hand-washing by the various agencies is very frustrating,” he said, adding that the main function of the GRA is to collect revenue.

“I don’t collect revenue from cocaine…I bring integrity to the GRA and to the country when I discover cocaine. Why must I do it alone when others also have that responsibility?” said an irate Sattaur.

“I can’t see that in the past we used to have an engagement and suddenly it is gone,” Sattaur stated.

Sattaur is right!

Fighting the drug trade has to be a collaborative effort because of the magnitude of the problem.

However, in this instance, there seems to be some level of blame-throwing as the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) went to great lengths to explain its role in the certification of lumber products for exportation and said that, at no time, does the entity process or clear shipments for export.

“For the sake of clarity, therefore, the GFC states publicly that it has absolutely no role in the clearing, the packing of, or even the processing of containers for export.

“We wish to place again on record that our job (as it relates to the export of forest produce) is to ensure that the forest produce destined for export has been properly graded and satisfies all of the other export procedures,” the GFC said in a release earlier this week.

Blame throwing would not get us anywhere. As such, the agencies involved should desist from this modus operandi and instead scrupulously delve into the cause of the slippage and work collaboratively towards finding and implementing moves to block the loopholes in the system.

In this process, it must be borne in mind that the drug trade is internationally organised and therefore intelligence gathering through local and international sources is a key tool in the drug fight.

Therefore, every effort should be made to boost the intelligence- gathering capacity of those agencies that are involved in combatting the dreaded, illegal drug trade.