President Donald Ramotar told thousands of supporters gathered in Kitty that the next PPP government under his watch will continue to make investments in the security sector.
Ramotar who is seeking re-election after he was forced to call early elections following his prorogation of the parliament, told the Kitty Rally that he intends to pay a whole lot more attention to the area of security during his next administration. He pointed out he has already developed a 15 point plan that has been presented to the Police Force as a blueprint for developing the security sector and ensuring results.
Mr. Ramotar told those gathered that he wants to ensure a better functioning police force and will push for that by hiring more men and women to serve in the police force. He also added that the police must do a better job at responding to criminal activities and under his government, he will be pushing to ensure that the police turn up to the scene of a crime no more than half an hour after they would have received the report.
“We want to ensure that when you pick up the phone and call the police, we will ensure that there must be there in half an hour from the time that you call them, that is the programme we are working towards”. 
He said his crime fighting plan is geared towards capturing criminals in the act and ensuring they are deterred from carrying out criminal activities. The President also spoke about his plan to launch a Neighbourhood Watch programme which will focus more on surveillance. He said citizens should also understand that they too have an important role to play in their own security.
The security situation in Guyana is one of the hot button issues being discussed during the campaigns by all sides. For this year alone, the Guyana Police Force is reporting an increase in robberies as well as over 30 murders being committed.
Ramotar lashed out at former Police Commissioner Winston Felix who is now campaigning for the APNU+AFC and who served as an APNU Member of Parliament during the 10th Parliament. Mr. Ramotar said Felix as Commissioner could “not even catch one thief”, so he questioned whether he would make a good Minister of Home Affairs.
It was under Winston Felix that the Roger Khan criminal and drug running enterprise was broken up and Roger Khan was snatched by the US authorities while being deported to Guyana from Suriname.
The President said the PPP has made investments in the security sector and will continue to do so especially on the side of technology.
During his more than one hour presentation, the President said Guyanese should vote for the PPP because the party has the country on the right track to development. He said there will be more investments in the rice and sugar sectors and noted that while the Opposition has been cutting a lot of the budget, he now sees that the Opposition is saying that sugar is too big to fail and that it will now work to develop the industry.
Ramotar said throughout his presidency he has made attempts to engage the opposition more. He said the government has also made attempts to get the opposition more involved in major decision making. He said his many efforts failed because the opposition did not appear too committed.
The rally also heard from former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Filed: 29th March, 2015
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