No country can fight drug trafficking on its own
- Home Affairs Minister
By Dale Andrews
Kaieteur News
March 8, 2007

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Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, has dismissed claims that the government appears to be inactive in the fight against drug trafficking and money laundering.

The Minister was responding to the recent US State Department narcotics report, which pointed to the failure of the Guyana Government to implement several aspects of its Drug Strategy Master Plan.

While admitting that some aspects of the drug master plan have not yet been implemented, the Minister said that there were several factors that have influenced the delay but the time has now come for implementation.

“I am not inactive. I think it is important to note that the country is caught up in a whole series of issues since the launching of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan in 2005.

“The country soon afterwards went into election mode. We had the campaign…elections are over. We had the question of settling down in terms of Parliament; the swearing-in of the President…those processes are now over,” the Minister said.

He said that as the new Minister of Home Affairs he is now settling in to treat aggressively with the issues relating to drug trafficking and money laundering.

“I have publicly stated that I'm committed to fighting this scourge. I am now focused on implementing the National Drug Strategy Master Plan. I am now focused on addressing the deficiencies which exist in the law enforcement agencies, especially those that are engaged in the fight against drugs.”

The US State Department report had indicated that in 2006, domestic seizures of cocaine in Guyana were insignificant.

In 2006, Guyanese law enforcement agencies seized less than 60 kilograms of cocaine with no publicly reported seizures in excess of 10 kilograms.

According to the report, this represents a minuscule portion of the cocaine that the US Government believes transits Guyana.

“The Government of Guyana's inability to control its borders, a lack of law enforcement presence and a lack of aircraft or patrol boats allow traffickers to move drug shipments via sea, river, and air with little resistance,” the report said.

According to the US State Department report, Guyana is a party to the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (the 1988 UN Drug Convention) but still needs to pass and implement additional legislation to meet its obligations under the convention.

It added that despite Guyana's status as a transshipment point for cocaine, there have not been any large domestic seizures since a 1998 joint Guyanese/U.S. operation confiscated 3,154 kilograms of cocaine from a ship docked in Georgetown.

Guyana's vast expanse of unpopulated forest offers cover for drug traffickers.

“Timber concessions in the remote interior may allow drug traffickers to establish autonomous outposts beyond the reach of Guyanese law enforcement. In response to controversy surrounding one such permit, the government announced it would propose legislation requiring stronger background checks on investors applying for timber concessions.

“The legislation has not yet been tabled in the National Assembly,” the report stated.

It pointed to the lack of adequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies and a weak judicial system as factors which undermine the government's counter-narcotics efforts.

The US drug report also stated that the Guyana Government did not announce any new drug policy initiatives in 2006.

With regards to money laundering, the US State Department report had said that investigating and prosecuting money laundering cases is not a priority for law enforcement.

But according to the report, the lack of adequate legislation and resources has resulted in the Government of Guyana making no arrests or prosecutions for money laundering in 2006.

The Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2000 criminalises money laundering related to narcotics trafficking, illicit trafficking of firearms, extortion, corruption, bribery, fraud, counterfeiting and forgery.

The report said that the government's anti-money laundering regime is ineffective, and the implementing regulations of the Money Laundering Prevention Act are inadequate.

“Guyana's Central Bank, the Bank of Guyana, lacks the capacity to fully execute its mandate to supervise financial institutions for compliance with anti-money laundering provisions.

“There have been no money laundering prosecutions to date, and it is unclear if a conviction for the predicate offense is necessary to obtain a money laundering conviction.

“The draft Money Laundering Act failed to make the legislative agenda before the dissolution of Parliament in May 2006.”

The report said that investigating and prosecuting money laundering cases is not a priority for law enforcement.

According to Minister Rohee, now that the new Parliament is convened, it is now moving into the season of the security related legislation.

He said that he will soon be taking to the National Assembly the amended version of the Money Laundering Act that treats with the forfeiture of assets.

“As the new Minister of Home Affairs, I have to get my facts as accurate as possible. We are now doing some internal assessment of what was said in the 2006 report and this current report,” the Home Affairs Minister stated.

He said that he believes that it is quite understandable for the United States administration to pronounce on these matters.

However, he noted that it is not fair to only point out the deficiencies of the Guyana Government, but to say what the US is prepared to put to the table to assist in the fight against the trafficking of illegal drugs.

President Bharrat Jagdeo had indicated that given Guyana's vast and porous borders and the administration's inability to the monitor it, combined with the lack of resources available to the local law enforcement agencies, the US should provide more assistance.

However, in response, former US Ambassador to Guyana, Roland Bullen, had told local journalists that assistance by the US Government is success driven.

Ambassador Bullen had said that the Guyana Government needed to show improved efforts in their drug fight to qualify for more assistance from the United States of America.

“Here you have the chicken and egg situation. If you don't have the requisite resources then how would you be able to deliver the kind of results which some countries are looking for?

“Therefore, the question that has to be asked is shouldn't the resources be offered so that you can deliver? If you can't deliver then you pass judgement,” Minister Rohee said.

Guyana's law enforcement agencies are seriously outgunned by the superior resources of drug traffickers.

“You can't match a go-fast boat with a canoe. The report makes mention of small aircrafts that are landing at remote airstrips and off-loading… that has to be matched too,” Rohee stated.

He explained that drug trafficking is a trans-national issue and noted that trans-national issues require trans-national cooperation.

“No country on its own can fight drug trafficking. As the Minister of Home Affairs, I think I can say with some authority that the government is indeed committed to send signals at the highest level that we are committed to fighting drug trafficking,” he added.

The Minister said that within recent times, except for a few kilograms, there has been no large shipment of illegal drugs from Guyana and this could be attributed to the cautious approach of drug traffickers as a result of the posture adopted by the administration.

“The drugs are stuck somewhere and can't move because of the vigilance of the law enforcement agency. We don't want to enter into the realm of speculation but anyone can conjure up as to why we don't have the ‘Danielson' amount of drugs passing though the country over the past few years,” Minister Rohee said.

Meanwhile, the Minister yesterday held discussions with major airline operators and law enforcement agencies to map out strategies to deal with drug trafficking and the trafficking in illegal weapons.

While not disclosing much of what came out of the meeting, the Minister said that it was felt that such an engagement was long overdue.

“Basically what we are trying to do is to design a plan to create greater collaboration with the law enforcement agencies to combat the trafficking of drugs through our airports. The response has been tremendous and almost all the participants have put something on the table as regards their preparedness to collaborate. I think this is extremely useful,” Rohee said.

He added that a course of action has been agreed upon and following further consultations and another round of talks, the implementation of the plan will be done.