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Budget short on training for law men to tackle threats from Venezuela, cybercrimes—Ramjattan
Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan told the House on Monday that in light of Guyana’s oil economy, the Venezuela border controversy and also cyber security threats government should place greater focus on specialised training for members of the armed forces.
Former Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan
He was at the time addressing the National Assembly during debates on the 2025 national budget. The Opposition Member of Parliament said that while looking at infrastructural developments in the sector the human resource aspect must be paid attention to as well. He said that “this budget on the security allocates 250 million to train, I think it is 1700 security personnel in crime scene management, forensic analysis and cyber security and this provision is necessary, but it is also a provision that requires what the recommendations that have come from the Kum report. Specialised career pathways for certain personnel inside of that Police Force, so we can have units therein that can know very profoundly, matters regarding cyber security, matters regarding crime scene management and so on,” Ramjattan a lawyer by profession said.
He said while it is understandable to train ranks of the Guyana Police Force in the elementary levels of crime scene management, it would be unwise to not have “a set of policemen who you can rely on in relation to certain pathways, especially in the context of the new crimes that the Caribbean report has indicated will happen in an oil economy…”
He argued that although there is $250M set aside for training, there is no provision for performance metrics tied to outcomes and this was a key aspect highlighted in a report done under the previous administration in connection with the British Security Sector Reform.
“What we in Guyana suffer, and I tell you, indeed we I saw it for myself as Public Security Minister, that we do not do these performance metrics, so that you can know that this is a policeman that is doing well, or this is a unit that is doing well as against what we want of them, and then the long-term Professional Development Framework well, that ties in to the specialized career pathways that I’m talking about,” he said.
According to the former minister, a bigger chunk of money allocated to the security sector needed to be spent on the specialised aspect of the sector. “And as a result of not doing such the government would have failed the country to provide it with a skilled, motivated workforce, which is required for a modern security framework that can effectively address the modern security challenges,” Ramjattan said.
He said too that there is a need and the government should ensure that resources are properly allocated to address the security needs at the coastal and hinterland regions, noting that while it is a good thing to have a state-of-the-art facility at Brickdam, it is also necessary to have the same at the hinterland and coastal areas. “I want to indicate too that we must not leave the hinterland area where we are going to have security issues especially in Essequibo, to leave it critically under served. This is a One Guyana in accordance with the President and One Guyana means not putting all the money in Georgetown necessarily and marginalising the regions under the guise of development,” Ramjattan said.
- controversy, cyber threats, Former Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, oil, security sector
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