If there is one single event last year which signposted neatly all of the failings of the police force it was the hair-raising slaughter in September of five persons – including a child – at Cummings Lodge.
To date, no one has been charged with the murders. Instead, the police engaged in perhaps the most extravagant showmanship of all by hauling into custody a dozen or so persons whom it believed might have had something to do with the matter. When the dust had settled, all of the supposed suspects were released and not a single charge laid.
The police then engaged in the customary backfilling job. It was postulated that the killings occurred as a result of the disappearance of seven kilogrammes of cocaine. It wouldn’t have taken much exertion of the grey matter to come up with that type of explanation particularly since all involved were killed. What was however needed from the police were arrests of those who executed this well-planned hit and their vigorous prosecution.
This was no ordinary event. The likely target, Mr Steve Jupiter, had been trailed to a residence and an ambush laid. Two cars were utilized by the killers who were clearly leaving nothing to chance. On the departure of Mr Jupiter and others from the residence, savage gunfire erupted killing four on the spot and leaving a woman in a critical condition. She passed away hours later. After the fusillade, the attackers melted away having successfully completed their task. Were they local hit-men or from overseas?
It may be the case in other jurisdictions that similar massacres have occurred without elucidation. However, in the case of Guyana, the failure strikingly illuminates the absence of human intelligence which would have provided a platform for the solving of this crime and the myriad others.
Instead, the security situation grows murkier by the day and it is in this milieu that there has been a rash of dangerous events. These include last week’s explosion outside of the Stabroek Market which claimed one life and left 18 injured, the channa bomb lobbed at the home of Mrs Sahoye-Shury, the arson attempts on two East Coast Demerara schools and a series of robberies that has left three businessmen dead after hospital stays. Armed banditry is also rampant.
The country has now entered an election year in which tensions inevitably rise and attacks of any kind carry the immediate tincture of some political connection even if this is not the case.
Only the most blinkered of the government’s supporters will find some silver lining in this state of affairs. Only the most blinkered will absolve the government, which has been in office for 18 years in a row, of the major responsibility for this state of affairs. The fact remains that the government has engaged in superfluous “reforms” of the security sector accompanied by rhetoric-filled meetings across the country which yield no results.
These measures have been completely useless in the face of the gun – the handgun, the shotgun, the Uzi or the fearsome AK-47. Collectively, these guns have stood out as the single most significant factor in the country’s history in the last six or seven years. Nothing has had more impact.
The detonation of the grenade – whether intended or not – has added another dimension to the apprehension that is generally felt in the country. It was not the first time that a grenade has been detonated here in recent times but the country is in a unique and potentially destabilizing period.
This is why it is crucial that the police get to the bottom of these events. More than a week later there has been no arrest in the school arsons. It is also the case that the public’s expectations are not high. Months later, Sheema Mangar’s case remains at a standstill because police have not been able to ensure the testing of a vital swatch of cloth found under the car which was suspected of running over her. Is it odd therefore that the public has so little confidence in the police force?
It isn’t clear to the public what real gains the Jagdeo administration could make in the remaining months of its life on the security front. The changes being made under the IDB’s citizenship security programme are painstakingly slow and unlikely to result in big improvements. Be that as it may the government had better be prepared to up its game in the security sector. The recent week’s events demand it.
