$90.6B earmarked to enhance Guyana’s security
The government’s pursuit of a safer country will be accelerated with an allocation of $90.6 billion in budgetary funding for the security sector.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh Monday said the funds will be spent on acquiring new vehicles, enhancing infrastructure, incorporating technology, and providing training opportunities to the various security agencies.
Minister Singh made the announcement during his presentation of Budget 2024, where he gave a breakdown of the allocation.
A total of $30.3 billion has been earmarked for the Guyana Police Force (GPF)whereby $5.4 billion will be spent on upgrading the force’s infrastructure.
“In 2024, we will advance the construction and rehabilitation and reconstruct critical police stations at Kitty, Mahaicony…As well as the construction of regional division headquarters in Region Six…Notably the force’s infrastructure will be transformed as we commence the construction of the state of the art 12-story Brickdam Police Station,” he relayed.
A sum of $1 billion has been allocated to increase the transportation fleet, with the purchasing of vehicles, boats, and engines.
According to Dr Singh, $152.1 million is proposed to support the Community Policing Groups (CPG) across the country, while $250 million will go towards local and regional training for ranks and $2 billion to advance the safe country initiative.
“We will also partner with strategic institutions like the New York Police Department and…Canada in advancing major training reform programmes,” the minister added.
The government plans to inject another $6.5 billion into the Guyana Prison Service. The prison infrastructure will further be enhanced with the sums of $2.8 billion and $140.2 million to train inmates and prison officers, respectively.
Meanwhile, another $572.8 million has been earmarked for the upgrading and completion of Guyana Fire Service’s infrastructure among other allocations.
In 2023, a sum of $72.6 billion was budgeted and expended to boost the security agencies.