Photos and interviews by Shabna Ullah
This week we asked the man/woman in the street if they were happy with the government’s response to crime eight weeks after the Lusignan massacre. They gave the following responses:
Uranie Munroe, housewife
`Yes, I am satisfied with government’s response in fighting crime so far because I don’t know what else they can do. The President is trying his best and he cannot do anything else. I am glad that Trinidad sent their helicopter after the Bartica attack. Crime has to stop in this country and everybody must live as one. Right now the rich people feeling the effects of the crime because they have to sleep with their eyes open. They have to be on the alert at all times and keep looking out for bandits and that is not good enough.’
Neville Ceres, farmer
`The crime situation must stop in this country. Government officials have to put their feet down and get two more helicopters to help them search different places. The helicopters can fly low and can pick up the criminals. If they [criminals] know that the helicopters are available they would be afraid to commit more crimes. Government needs to get more soldiers and police to protect us and they should send enough ranks in the interior locations where a lot of incidents occur. To me they are concentrating on finding ‘Fineman’ alone but there are many more out there to look for. There should be more police patrols at nights and the police should be equipped with better guns and bulletproof outfits. I also feel the police should be properly trained to deal with people when they have to serve a warrant.’
Vanessa Ceres, vendor
`To me government can do more to fight crime and first of all they need to increase the salary of the police and soldiers to encourage them to work harder. They have to risk their lives to protect us. I think government should provide the force with more vehicles to conduct patrols and to respond to a robbery. Many times persons have to send transportation for the police and by the time they get there the bandits would have already fled. There should be more police outposts in various areas so the people can feel safe. Proper telephones should be installed at all of the outposts so the police would not have any excuse of not knowing about the incident in time. We don’t need those kinds of killings that happened in this country; we need peace. Whoever did that to those innocent people should pay for it. They did not make life to take life. God made us and he would take us when he is ready. I feel prayers can change everything in this country.’
Reco Jairam, student
`To me the crime would only settle for a while and it would continue again. I am not satisfied with the government’s response so far. They should get more police to raid the place in search of the killers who are responsible for the massacre. Unless they catch them no one would feel safe. I think this country should get more helicopters since that would be more effective in fighting crime. As a student I would like to see a better future for this country. Right now instead of the country developing it is getting down because of crime.’
Cecil Ramdatt, Chairman of Bath/Woodley Park NDC
`To some extent I am satisfied because government is going to parliament to set up a permanent security committee, comprising of all stakeholders including the opposition, religious leaders, NGOs and a wide cross-section of the public. My feeling however, is that whatever the recommendations of this committee are the security forces should be fully equipped with super firepower, helicopters, boats and land transportation in order to outmatch the bandits. I am hopeful though, that government does not starve the security forces of funding to achieve this objective. There should also be some form of compensation for those survivors of the Lusignan attack to get their lives back on even keel. Being a Bartician, I always felt that such a tragedy could never have happened (there). Given the geography of Bartica, it would not have been logistically possible for bandits to attempt that invasion and escaped. Time has proven me wrong and the security forces may need to establish a more formidable presence in that area.’
Nazreen Azeez, Chairperson of Bush Lot CDC
`Despite the government’s effort to identify and capture the criminals I still see their reluctance and it is still baffling me to some extent. They should be more aggressive in this cause because while the criminals are allowed to masquerade freely, people continue to live in fear and anxiety. They have to keep looking over their shoulders because they don’t know who the criminals are. They can be among us and we would not know them. It would help a great deal if government can have proper intelligence gathering and assign undercover cops at certain places to hunt down the killers. I also think government needs to procure upgraded weapons and other supplies to aid in the protection of the security forces… It is a shame that persons have to turn to this kind of inhuman behaviour. Government needs to inculcate moral standards in schools so children can understand the values necessary for proper living.’
David Subnauth, Chairman of the Upper Corentyne Chamber
`I am not satisfied with the government’s response so far because the people who committed the crime have still not been caught. It is not one man who did the killing, it is a gang and offering $50M to find him alone [or even if they say $200M] would not solve the problem. They [government officials] have to put things in place so that does not happen again, yet shortly after so many more persons were massacred in Bartica. There should be more police patrols and prompt response to a crime scene. When the people at Lusignan were calling the station, the police were not responding and that situation is continuing in the rural areas. Many times the phone is ringing out or it is engaged. Government has not responded properly to that problem and they have not put measures in place to prevent a recurrence. Police were ordered to give their names but that would not solve the problem. The stations ought to know the police who were on duty at the time of the phone call. If I am making a call, all I have to do is make a note of what time I called. I don’t need to know the name all I want is prompt response. To me, going on television and radio or making proposals would not solve the crime. Government needs to remove the Minister of Home Affairs since it is his function to come up with solutions and to see that the police operate efficiently. He also has to see that this country is being protected internally; not the president.’
Wazir Baksh, religious leader
`There are different dimensions in tackling crime. Some of the areas within the institutional framework are fair and it is a wonderful idea to have the stakeholders meeting. But I think government has to look at poverty and mobilize the resources of the nation. Many children have to go without food. Rather than doing things through the line ministers they need to get the stakeholders to tackle poverty and truancy. There is an overemphasis in implementing the law and prosecuting people. While it is good to observe law we need to take into consideration factors that can discourage people to disobey the law. Additionally we have to reach out with mercy and forgiveness and deal with more networking, not only on stopping criminals but on crime prevention. We have to encourage people to turn to religious teachings and to have more religious discourse on crime and crime prevention. There should be more inclusivity with political parties and civil societies in every aspect of national life. Government should complete the constitutional reform process. They also need to conduct a study on the distribution of wealth in Guyana and look at the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods while mobilizing the stakeholders and donor agencies to target those neighbourhoods to facilitate the growth and development.’
Iqbal Rahman, farmer
`I personally believe that the incident was not a race issue but it was more politically motivated and this has affected the security and economic conditions of the country. I believe that if all the political parties, business communities, religious bodies, labour movements, farmers and the public at large work together they would be able to solve all the problems we are having in this country today. As far as I am concerned the people are still living as they used to live 30 to 40 years ago. We need development in this area and the political parties have to iron out their differences before that can happen and before problems are solved.’
Pooram Pitama, lab technician
`I am not satisfied with the government’s response because I expect them to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice. But it seems to me like that would be forgotten about. Are they waiting for another incident to happen? I think they should seek international assistance to curb the crime situation. For the government to respond well to crime they need to have good resources and people with good technical skills. There should not be any political bias in the crime fighting effort.’
