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The minister, speaking on a programme on the National Communications Network, explained that Guyana’s response took some time because the TIP Task Force dissected the report so as to make a comprehensive response which required a complete analysis. Having done that, the Task Force was convinced that the report was a complete twisting of the true situation.
“The report was totally rejected, and in fact we took into consideration Cabinet’s position on the matter because Cabinet was discussing the matter while we were discussing the matter on the task force,” Minister Rohee said.
He added that President Donald Ramotar had also made reference to the TIP report at an Investment Conference at the Guyana International Conference Centre in late June. “So we took guidance from President Ramotar’s statement, and that helped to influence what we formulated as a response to the US State Department,” the minister explained.
FULFILLING OUR OBLIGATIONS
At the end of the report, the task force stated that it would no longer be cooperating with the US embassy here in Guyana with respect to TIP. The basis for that is that “we have been faithfully, and in a very dedicated and committed manner, fulfilling all that we know to be our obligations…concurrently whenever the US Embassy circulates a questionnaire to the government in order for us to complete on issues which they would have an interest in, we would do so, and when we send it back and the reports are published there is very little reference to the government’s position,” Minister Rohee posited.
“We don’t expect them to be lovey-dovey with us in relation to Guyana’s position of TIP, but the least we could ask is for them to reflect as faithfully as possible, without any editorialising, without any interpretations given to the factual responses that we gave in the questionnaires they circulated on an annual basis,” he pointed out.
With regard to Guyana’s new TIP rating and its international image, Minister Rohee recognised that this would depend on who is making it a big issue.
“When we look at the trans-national organised crimes, drug trafficking, we and the international community basically agree that Guyana is a trans-shipment point for drugs…in this country there are no drug labs, none have been discovered, the only thing that we find here is the cultivation of marijuana,” he said. In acknowledgement of this, the government has formulated policies and a National Drug Strategy Master Plan to address the drug problem from that perspective.
With respect to firearms being smuggled into the country, there are also programmes and policies to address that as well.
“Guyana is not known as a drug empire… so if we are working to address those under controllable circumstances, it seems to me that the same applies for the TIP,” Minister Rohee illustrated.
He emphasised that Guyana has to maintain its national position which is not an artificial/cover-up position or one where evidence is being stifled. “Our national position, based on information collected by government agencies and departments, is that TIP is no worse than smuggling of firearms and drugs in and out of Guyana… in fact it seems to us, based on the intelligence that we receive, that it is not as worse as those two other issues,” the minister pointed out.
A NATIONAL TIP REPORT PUBLISHED EVERY YEAR
With regard to the exclusion of information provided by the government to the US State Department, Minister Rohee indicated that neither the government nor the task force can stop them from assessing any government, since if they consider that to be their responsibility, there is nothing government could do about that.
However, while they continue to do their tasks, Guyana will also continue its duties with regard to TIP.
Importantly, there is a national TIP report that is published every year and tells those who are interested, or the TIP watchers, what the government is doing. “We would be neglecting our responsibility if we didn’t generate our own national report on how we assess the TIP situation in Guyana,” Minister Rohee emphasised. Additionally, reading that report also highlights the government’s position on the matter.
The task force comprises all the government agencies and departments that have a say in TIP, and recently the decision was taken to write the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to seek a representative.
Minister Rohee explained that the task force’s duty is more to facilitate, to build a greater sense of public awareness, is not Georgetown-based, but has focal points in every nook and cranny, especially in those areas where it is known that TIP rears its ugly head from time to time.
“We have been reading reports about police involvement in the process, in a negative sense, those are allegations that are being investigated…it is easy to make law enforcement a target in any situation,” the minister said. Nevertheless, he stressed that he has no apologies for the police and is of the view that the Police Force is capable of defending and explaining its position on any issue they wish to publicly pronounce on.
Further, TIP is a criminal offence in Guyana, and there must be ties with the law enforcement and the Ministries of Home Affairs and Human Services. The latter two are the main government departments that have been given the responsibility to collaborate with each to address TIP issues.
Minister Rohee indicated that while the task force is open to anyone who would collaborate with them, they would not dictate nor be dictated to on what they should do and how they should do it. “I think the task force has intelligent, thinking people who can figure things out, who can formulate a work programme for a year, who will meet from time to time to assess how the work programme has been implemented, and the work programme is multi-faceted and includes workshops, seminars, visits and building relationships,” he said.
EXECUTIVE CANNOT DICTATE TO THE COURTS
With regard to statements about the conviction rate for TIP, Minister Rohee noted that in Guyana’s response, it was said that the executive cannot dictate to the courts regarding conviction, since that would be a sorry state of affairs.
“If a person is alleged to be involved in trafficking and it comes to our attention, first and foremost the police is alerted and the police do what they have to do…if the police are convinced and they have incontrovertible evidence that this person is indeed a trafficker, they send to the DPP for her advice, if the DPP is convinced that the evidence the police has sent up to her is convincing and she recommends that the person be charged and placed before the courts for TIP …it now rests with the arguments between the complainant and the defendant to convince the court,” he explained.
While there may seem to be some sloth in the courts, this is no different from other courts around the world.
In relation to the safety of victims, Minister Rohee explained that there is a protocol that has been agreed by all the members of the task force which includes the police (immigration and welfare departments) who are aware of the protocol as to how a victim is treated when that person goes to the police station and who must be contacted at the respective agencies.
“We have to ensure that wherever there are slippages, wherever there are deficiencies, we have to spot them quickly and address them because these things tend to spin out of control and then people tend to give their own negative interpretation of what is happening…so all the government agencies have a role to play in preventing or detecting TIP. They have to ensure that they do so above board so that no negative interpretation is given,” the minister emphasised. (GINA)
