Gov’t badly implementing racial diversity in Disciplined Services- Norton

Last Updated on Saturday, 11 January 2025, 18:44 by Writer

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton agrees that there should be a diverse racial make-up of the police and defence forces, but believes that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) is implementing the policy badly.

“I have no problem with objective criteria being used to create a level playing field. I have a problem with the PPP approach where it says if you’re going to get ten officers, seven must be Indo-Guyanese or six even void of qualifications,” he told a news conference on Friday. The Police Force, Defence Force, Fire Service and Prison Service as well as large sections of the public service comprise mainly of Afro-Guyanese.

The 2004 Disciplined Services Commission of Inquiry Report recommends that it should be an aim of the (Police) Force to be representative of Guyana’s ethnic diversity without employing a quota system which will be constitutionally be offensive. In that regard, a special select committee that considered the report had agreed that the Minister of Home Affairs, Commissioner of Police and Divisional Heads should be responsible for the implementation of that recommendation. Similar recommendations were made for the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Fire Service and Guyana Prison Service.

The Guyana Defence Force’s Personnel Recruitment Policy provides for, among other things, that “particular focus was to be placed on recruitment in Indo-Guyanese communities, but not at the exclusion of other ethnic groups” and that no person must be excluded from joining the defence force except on the basis of competitive merit. The Recruitment Policy says there must be a public information campaign to highlight the inclusionary ethnic recruitment and retention policy of the GDF, in terms of, among other things, “the need for greater Indo-Guyanese representation in the interest of achieving ethnic balance.”

Mr Norton cited the need for employment of persons based on their ability and performance. He claimed that the Guyana Police Force had on one occasion virtually called off recruiting a batch because “it did not have the diversity they were looking for.”

While Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken appears to be of Afro-Guyanese descent, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader said he was appointed because it was easier for him to execute their directives.

The Opposition Leader believed embattled Assistant Police Commissioner Calvin Brutus’ claim, in a lawsuit, that the Government’s Diversity Policy was discriminatory against Afro-Guyanese. “I believe what Brutus is saying but I do not have documentation as it relates to Brutus,” he said. Mr Brutus, who is of mixed ancestry—African and Amerindian—claimed in his GY$1.6 billion lawsuit that he was replaced as Acting Deputy Police Commissioner ‘Administration’ with then Assistant Police Commissioner Ravindradatt Budhram, an Indo-Guyanese in violation of Guyana’s Constitution, Prevention of Discrimination Act, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Mr Brutus is on administrative leave pending the hearing and determination 0f more than 200 fraud charges against him.

The 1965 Commission of Inquiry into Racial Problems in the Public Service, which was handed to then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, had recommended that “all possible steps be taken to facilitate Indian entry into the Police Force and to encourage Indians to apply for acceptance”. Related recommendations were for the removal of height and chest requirements, abolition of the requirements for applicants to be unmarried, recruitment selection boards including Indian and African as well as other persons, steps taken to ensure that all Indian recruits and other members of the police force can comply with their religious dietary laws, and increased salaries to attract Indians and Africans of a sufficient calibre.