Works on the much anticipated Witness Protection legislation are ongoing, according to Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan.
He recently told reporters that the Witness Protection Bill is currently at the Attorney General (AG) Chambers for review; however, he noted that Cabinet is yet to examine the draft document.
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“It has to be fine-tuned by us in Cabinet and then the recommendations we will make in relation to that bill will go back to the drafts person, (Chief Parliamentary Counsel Cecil) Durjohn and then be brought to the National Assembly; but that’s the state where it is at presently.”
According to Ramjattan, while there has been many calls for the process to be fast-tracked so that the programme can be implemented, there is much more work to be done. He added that another factor that needs to be considered is financing of the programme.
“What the Witness Protection Plan will do too, (is it) will require a lot of finances because some of these witnesses you will have to put in Trinidad and far off places because they might not be safe in Guyana and that will be a very expensive exercise,” the Public Security Minister explained.
Nevertheless, Ramjattan went on to say that the Witness Protection Programme has long been seen as very important, despite claims that it is being pushed because of the white collar crime that the forensic audits have exposed.
He explained that people inside of narcotic offences have been claiming that they wanted protection because they feel those involved in the drug trade network can kill or harm them. He even noted that while he has no evidence to this effect, he believes that there have been some deaths in the past relating to the narcotics trade.
In the meantime, the Public Security Minister is encouraging persons with information that can solve any crime to come forward. He said the only assurance that can be given at this point is that they will protect and ensure the safety of witnesses.
Furthermore, Ramjattan outlined that as citizens, persons have a duty to speak out when they know of evidence that wrongdoings were committed.
“It is the first duty of citizenship… but sometimes these things are harder than I think and people are sensitive to things like what could happen to them, they get scared but that’s some of them. There are others who come forward and I’m proud of them but we just have to persuade and plead with persons in the meanwhile because right now we are doing all that we can to have the legislation in place,” he noted.
In November last year, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman had revealed that the bill was before a parliamentary subcommittee and that it was approved for submission to the National Assembly. However, the Bill is yet to be presented to the House as additional works are still to be done.
It was noted that key witnesses testifying before the courts of Guyana would have been guaranteed protection by the State, if Parliament had approved the passage of the Witness Protection Bill 2015.
But while the draft legislation is being ironed out, concerns have been expressed that the delay in its passage is hindering the local justice system.
In fact, during a recent interview with Guyana Times, retired former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Cecil Kennard, pointed out that the lack of such legislation is affecting the success rate of convictions, pointing out that witnesses are reluctant to give evidence in high profile cases as they are often fearful for their lives.
“[The Justice system is] affected a lot; you have a lot of dismissals of a lot of cases, people are afraid to come forward, in the event that if they give evidence and somebody [is not convicted], the convict will get at them,” Kennard stressed.
He added that in years past, there were very few persons freed from high profile cases.
“People must feel secure that they are being protected because we are having only 30% of convictions. When I was a young prosecutor, [about] two persons [would] get off per session; people were not intimidated, they would go forward,” Justice Kennard noted, adding that a proliferation of armed weapons is all the reason more to have the legislation passed.
“Crime is on the increase, everybody getting guns so people [have] to be protected and I’m sure that Mr Ramjattan would ensure [its implementation],” Justice Kennard further pointed out.
