GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC:
THE GOVERNMENT and the main Opposition party in Guyana have publicly pledged to back any bipartisan compact to fight crime in the country.
President Bharrat Jagdeo and leader of the People's National Congress Reform (PNC/R), Robert Corbin, gave the undertaking when they participated in a private sector-organised workshop under the theme 'Crime - Analysis and Solutions' in the capital.
Jagdeo and Corbin attended the forum at different times, and when asked whether they would be prepared to deal with the crime issue together, both replied in the affirmative.
"It is a welcomed departure from the past and I would be glad to do it," Jagdeo said.
Corbin, who is also prepared to join Jagdeo at the same table to support crime-fighting initiatives, however, referred to a number of public perceptions hindering national effort to tackle the problem.
According to the PNC/R leader, the public is of the view that "crime is only important if it interferes with one's interest or ethnic group, and since crime is condoned by the administration, it lacks the moral authority to prosecute."
He said, too, that there is the public perception that government was in bed with criminals.
"The security service is fully or partially infiltrated by organised crime and therefore people feel that reporting matters to the police will have repercussions," he said, adding that, "the state has a vested interest in creating ethnic insecurity, since it enhances (its) electoral prospects."
The public also believes that "crime is a political matter and should only be addressed if it affects one group," Corbin said.
Jagdeo, who accused Opposition politicians of close links with armed gangs on the east coast when he met with reporters earlier Wednesday, toned down his response at the private sector function held at the Le Meridian Pegasus Hotel.
"We really need to get beyond perception, we can't run countries and build policies on perception," the president said when questioned on the issue.
He denied that his party and government are part of the criminal enterprise terrorising large sections of the multi-racial republic, reminding that it was his administration which established the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU).
"I would dare anyone to say that we have formal links to drug dealers," Jagdeo challenged. The main opposition PNC/R has consistently accused the governing party and Government of criminal ties.
Jagdeo favours the establishment of a Commission to probe accusations of politically motivated crimes "so that the country can move on."
Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr Roger Luncheon, who also spoke at the forum called for "more aggressive and coordinated campaigns in mobilising the public" to help fight escalating crime here.
On a broader front, "Guyana must join the rest of the world putting in place mechanisms to deal with practitioners of politically inspired crimes and their mentors," Luncheon said. "If we are to deal with crime then we have to extract it from the interpretation which suggests that crime exists for political and ethnic reasons."
