Dear Editor,
There is a perception that the government is making very little effort to curb criminal activities, including an upsurge in corrupt transactions involving the regions, other politicians and some contractors. While violent robberies, rapes, murders, assaults, etc, can be ascertained through facts, the question of corruption is based on speculation, except in cases where evidence abounds such as in the Essequibo ticket scam and the multiple instances of malfeasance exposed in the Auditor General’s report for Regions One and Nine. Yet nothing is done by the government to reassure citizens that curbing corruption is a priority.
Is this how we want to build back trust and confidence in an already hapless population when fundamental basic needs such as safety and protection of the public treasury from unscrupulous public officials cannot be guaranteed?
Is there any serious plan currently in place to curb this lawlessness committed by government officials or violent criminals? Or is there complicity by the government to protect these people from prosecution because of friend, family and political affiliation? And that is the perception. How can we promote tourism as a revenue earner when tourists are bombarded daily with incidents of violent robberies allegedly committed in some cases by the police whose mandate is to serve and protect?
Will there ever be any semblance of normalcy, where people can have basic public services provided without offering bribes, or walk the streets peacefully without being robbed, or have peace in their homes without being assailed by loud music or drive in leisurely fashion without being harassed by the police, or have confidence that our roads, stellings, kokers and other infrastructure will not collapse from shoddy work, or people will not squat on other’s property, or inhale fresh clean air free from the pollution of stinking garbage?
And, what is the opposition take on all of this? Are they serious about development or merely concerned about achieving power though protests that invariably result in criminal activities as seen in the past, or squabbling in Parliament as they have been doing recently over the non-performance of Minister Rohee?
Come on people, why not work in unity to rid Guyana of these criminals, regardless of political affiliation, rather than using the highest forum to quarrel over petty issues?
Yours faithfully,
D Singh
