Felix returns after expediting police weapons acquisition
Stabroek News
September 4, 2002
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix, returned to Guyana over the weekend from his mission overseas after putting in train the arrangements to acquire weaponry and protective kits for the Guyana Police Force from the United States of America.
Felix, who heads the task force which is overseeing the implementation of the measures announced by President Bharrat Jagdeo on June 7, was sent on the mission last month to speed up the acquisition. The decision to send Felix on the mission was taken at a meeting of senior police officers to review the implementation of the measures intended to boost the police’s capacity to deal with the present wave of violent crime that has gripped the country for the past six months. During this period, 11 law enforcement officers have been killed.
Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, told Stabroek News that Felix had returned with the necessary information that would expedite the acquisition process. When he announced Felix’s mission, President Jagdeo had said that he would have expected the required weaponry and kits to be acquired by the time he met the senior officers of the Police Force.
That meeting is expected to take place towards the end of the week following President Jagdeo’s return from South Africa.
Gajraj said, too, that the government through Guyana’s overseas missions was also sourcing required arms from Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
When he announced the measures in June, President Jagdeo had said that the acquisition of arms and the other measures would cost $100 million. However, last month at a press conference he said that because he wanted to ensure that the police had the required protective gear, the acquisition cost of the weapons and kit had increased to $200 million.
Meanwhile, Gajraj was scheduled to meet the steering committee formed after last week’s consultation on crime that was held at the Ocean View Convention Centre.
The consultation, from which ROAR was absent and to which the PNC/R sent an observer, was the first of a series to be held nationwide involving the political parties and civil society organisations.
However, both the PNC/R and the Working People’s Alliance have criticised the government’s decision to convene the consultation rather than a high-level meeting of the leaders of the political parties and the major civil society organisations to discuss the issue.
Stabroek News understands that consultations are to be held in Linden, on the Essequibo Coast, Bartica and Berbice and these are to be completed before mid-month.