Dear Editor,
It was heart wrenching to read the terrifying ordeal the families of Lusignan have had to go through in what is now being dubbed the `Lusignan massacre’. Do human beings actually act in such a manner, brutally breaking down people’s doors not to rob but to kill? This is home grown terrorism, something you know you will read of in another country or watch played out on television but not expect in your own country or for your own people to experience.
The editorial of `Massacre of 11′ of January 28 captures at an intellectual level the inability of the administration to make the eastern corridor safe and stop Guyana’s descent into the abyss. I lived along that corridor and experienced the every day fear of driving home and of sleeping with ears alert for strange sounds. However, only the words of the survivors can capture the helplessness that they endured, staring certain death in its face and seeing their loved ones relentlessly murdered before their eyes including children.
There is nothing anyone can say to make it any better. Sattie Sawh would be reliving the ordeal she has had to go through when her husband and relatives were brutally murdered in her presence. Yet, years later, the government has been unable to bring to justice their killers. What comfort is this for any other Guyanese, much less the people in villages neighbouring Buxton or anywhere in Guyana for that matter.
The President and his ministers of government have a thin film of security around them. I did not find it amusing that the ruling party is calling on the security forces to act to destroy the criminal gangs. For goodness sake, it is your party in government. The party the majority of Guyanese voted for to make the country safe. It is time you put in place or give effect to an improvement in the security situation by commanding the skills to do the job. The President and his Cabinet are a creature of the party and hence the party has to be responsible for the policies being effected or not effected. So I find the call by the PPP rather hollow. The best response will be to act decisively and bring an end to the insecurity and fears of people.
Buxton has been a troubling village, harbouring criminal elements since the 2002 jail outbreak, yet this situation has not been rectified. How hard can it be to make a single village free of criminal infiltration to make an entire country safe? Destroy the backdam by fire if you have to to remove all hiding places. And do you think this gang of 25 will be sitting awaiting capture? The security forces and the much talked of Henry Greene need to deliver and hunt down these criminals and not give up until they are captured. The Criminal Investigation Department needs to garner intelligence to make the corridor safe. The security forces need to win people’s confidence by responding promptly to their distress calls and solving their crimes in a timely manner. Confidence is not a birthright, it is earned.
Like all Guyanese overseas, albeit temporarily, I am outraged at what has happened and feel the helplessness that every other Guyanese in the country must be experiencing. As we know not what the next move of these criminal elements would be. And we know for sure that so far, the government and the security forces have been unable to keep us safe.
I am sure President Jagdeo and the PPP elites will feel the pain of their people, all the people of Guyana, and will share their feelings of helplessness and will act now to end those fears. Enough talking. It is the time to act. It is the time to deliver a safe Guyana for all of us.
Yours faithfully,
Gitanjali Singh
