Dear Editor,
When Minister Clement Rohee stood up and told the Private Sector Commission in late August that “there is no threat to national security,” someone from the audience should have told him to sit down again. He failed the nation as the Home Affairs Minister, to set up a functional long-term strategic approach to proactively mitigate the upsurge in violent crime in Guyana. In his world, he harbours the perception that “there is no increase in violent crime” (his words), but this could not be further from the truth. Under the watch of the Jagdeo regime, Guyana is on target to achieve an average rate of two murders every five days, and many of these are caused by violent bandits who carry out their business without fear of the law enforcement agencies. This is not a record to be proud of, and this may not be a threat to the business associates of the regime, but it is a clear and present threat to the working people and peasant class of this country. Even Commissioner Greene had to accept that as at the end of August there were 96 murders as compared to 77 for the comparable period in 2009. What a shame that the Minister is attempting to spin the facts when ordinary people’s lives are at stake.
I looked at the Guyana Chronicle and the Stabroek News for details on the armed robberies between February and September 2010. What I found was most shocking. The Stabroek News alone had over 10 pages of search results when I typed in “armed robbery in 2010.” As a result of space constraints, I am only able to reveal a sub-set of the comprehensive results. I have not even looked at the Kaieteur News which has the reputation of being on top of the crime stories in Guyana. This sub-set of the results is outlined in the table below:
Minister Rohee was far from reality when he stated that the Joint Services are “all up to speed to deal with any threat to the stability of the state.” Goat really bite some people in Guyana!
What is his definition of the state? Is he referring to Pradoville, State House, Office of the President, Camp Ayanganna, Eve Leary, the Ministry of Home Affairs Compound and of course his private residence? The Oxford Dictionary defines the state as the legal/political community that comprises the people and the territory that is governed by a government. Most importantly a state consists of all its people. The last time I checked, the majority of the people are exposed to a clear and present threat to their security and thus by extension the state is unstable and is under threat. The nation in 2010 is not under threat during a PNC regime, but under a PPP regime and the last 10 years under President Jagdeo have resulted in the people being exposed to their worst state of instability, not even comparable to the House of Israel days. As my list above shows, Guyanese, including the young are being maimed and terminated by dark forces while Minister Rohee and his security forces are unable to prevent the merciless destruction.
I want to remind Minister Rohee that the PPP in its 2006 manifesto promised to “create a SWAT Team to fight serious crime.” To date this remains an undelivered promise. Need I say more? Shall I also allude to the other unkept promises made to the Guyanese population in 2006 by the PPP such as “using the best international expertise to assist the fight against crime”? Why then did we chase the UK Government Security Project out of Guyana? Was the regime afraid that Scotland Yard would reveal that invisible hands might be centrally directing crime in Guyana? Was the regime afraid that Scotland Yard would reveal that the PNC is not the political sponsor of this crime spree in Guyana? Was the regime afraid that Scotland Yard would reveal who ordered the hit on Sash Sawh? Was the regime afraid that the Scotland Yard would reveal the connections the narco-criminal gangs have?
As Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts since no amount of spin can change the facts.” Over to the spinners in Office of the President: They should try the truth for once; it may work with the Guyanese people this time.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
