Guyana not worried over British pull-out from security sector reform
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| Published on Friday, October 30, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- The Guyanese government on Thursday said, while the pull out of the British government from the reform of the local security sector will have some physical impact on the project, they are not so worried since the state will fill this gap.
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| Guyana's Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon |
Government spokesman and secretary to the cabinet Dr Roger Luncheon told a media conference that the 4.9 million pounds sterling was just one aspect of the reform with other funding coming from loans by multilateral institutions and an input by the government of Guyana
“The pull-out by the UK for security sector reform for Guyana is not fatal,” Luncheon stated, adding that when the administration crafted the strategic security reform, issues like these were taken into consideration.
“When we crafted this plan we had three pillars that it was built on regarding funding, and what we wanted to ensure was that there were minimal overlapping. So the disengagement of the Brits (British) will not create much of a strain, so we don’t have to panic since the amount that the Bits were putting will be covered by public funds, it will come from the treasury," he said.
Giving his account of the reason behind the pull-out; Luncheon said the issue that led to the breakdown was that of national ownership of the reform project.
According to the official, during a meeting in December of 2008, an agreement was made on the project which was later approved by the UK and in which Guyana was named as the national owner of the security sector reform.
However in April, the proposal was sent back to Guyana with a number of changes making Guyana just a consultant in the process.
The government spokesman said the government position remains the same as it relates to the sovereignty of Guyana.
“Guyana owes no apologies when it comes to its entrenched position on the inevitability of our national sovereignties," Luncheon said.
Luncheon adds that filling this gap to ensure the security sector reform is successful is not a big task for Guyana despite the opposite view of some.
“Some obviously feel that Guyana cannot manage a grant of that magnitude… despite a history of sound financial management since we took office in 1992,” Luncheon stated.
However, the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has a different view of the saga and said at a media conference on Thursday that the withdrawal of the British was as a result of “Jagdeo’s arrogance and deceptive consultations.”
The party noted that the failure was clearly as a result of the bad faith on the part of government and ”its failure to ensure genuine stakeholders consultations as agreed, its failure to ensure genuine parliamentary oversight and refusal to agree to management model that would ensure transparency in the application of the funds by the donors.” | | | | Reads : 435 | | | |
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