Investments to boost fire prevention catered in budget 2024 – Min Benn
Efforts to boost fire prevention and protect lives will be accelerated as funds to acquire several pieces of modern firefighting equipment and construction of new fire stations are contained in the $1.146 trillion national fiscal framework for 2024.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn during the ongoing budget debates in the National Assembly highlighted that there has been an increase in fires, propelling the need for more investments in prevention.
In 2023, there was an 182 per cent increase in calls relating to fires − 1,480 calls in 2022 and 4,181 in 2023.
Vehicles, water carriers, and a new fireboat to complement the expansion of development in the maritime sector will be procured this year to augment the demand for fire prevention equipment.
“We are working with Angloco [Limited] to get a complete, new set of fire trucks along with the requisite spheres because maintenance is indeed a problem,” he stated in the National Assembly.
Fire stations will be reconstructed at Leonara, Diamond while improvements are being made to the Bartica Fire Station.
Minister Benn recalled the situation of the fire service when he took the reins of the security minister, where personal protective equipment was not available and equipment was non-functional.
“The Fire Service then brought out five mobile pumps [but] none of them worked. That’s what we inherited from [Khemraj] Ramjattan,” Minister Benn emphasised.
Speaking on the issue of the Mahdia Tragedy, Minister Benn clarified that the Fire Service was not responsible for putting adequate fire prevention equipment in the Mahdia female dormitory.
The service has also been equipping schools and dormitories especially those in the hinterland with fire prevention equipment including fire alarms, fireballs, sand buckets, and extinguishers among others.
In the area of crime, records have shown a steady decrease in serious crimes with the Guyana Police Force recording a 20 per cent decrease in 2022 and 17 per cent in the year 2023.
“Crime continues to decline under the PPP/C Government and this was promised in our manifesto,” the home affairs minister stated.
“GPF, CANU, Immigration Services, the GRO, and the Prison Services, all of those are giving sterling service to Guyana. All of those units now are on the road to better improvement, better ethics, better professionalism, better standards of delivery, better consciousness [concerning] the work they do,” he added.
The hypocritical nature of the opposition was also highlighted by Minister Benn on the issue of creating job opportunities in the budget, reminding the August house that the previous administration fired 7,000 sugar workers.
He said too that those heavy investments in capital infrastructure are critical to the needs of the people.