While the Guyana Police Force says there is no increase in crime here, former President Donald Ramotar differs, saying that not only there is a rise but it is different from the crimes of the past and is as a direct result of high unemployment rates.
As such he is calling on the APNU+AFC government to urgently devise strategies to tackle the core issue and find ways to increase employment rates and create revenue earning initiatives.
“These are mainly economic crimes. Therefore, the main responsibility lies with the government to stimulate the economy so that more jobs can be created. That will have an impact on the situation,” Ramotar said yesterday as he pointed to the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) most recent statistics on crimes.
Further, he added “Parroting statistics that don’t match the perception of people will not bring any comfort to the populations. As someone once said – there are lies, damn lies and statistics.”
Commissioner of Police (Acting) David Ramnarine last Friday boasted that not only was the GPF able to hold off the August to September holiday crime peak period, but that the force has recorded a 19% decrease from January 1 to September 23 in overall serious crimes. This includes an 11% decline in murders, 10% drop in robbery under arms, 23% decrease in break and enter and larceny and 22% fall in rape.
Ramotar flayed the findings saying that he does not believe them and is sure that his view is shared by the public.
“Whenever we hear from the Ministry of Public Security and/or the Guyana Police Force (GPF), it is always good news – “Crime is on the decline” and figures have been trotted out to demonstrate this. However, those statements are really not believed by the public. Instead, many persons are of the view that crime is on the rise and we have once again reached the stage where many crimes are not even being reported. The GPF should be careful with their figures. They can lose credibility,” he said.
“It is true that we have experienced high crime rates in the past. One particular spike in crime that shook the Guyanese nation is the one that took place after the jail break of 2002. This was indeed a bad period,” he added while contending that those criminals had “political support”.
“Yes, those were difficult times… The calibre of crimes today, however, is quite different. These are not politically motivated crimes. These crimes are caused by a deteriorating economic situation. Over the last sixteen months of APNU +AFC rule, the economy has slowed greatly. It is meeting stagnation point. Unemployment is on the rise. Hundreds have lost their jobs at Barama, the upper Demerara timber producers are in difficulties without Baishanlin, one gold mine has sent off many workers and hundreds of others have already been dismissed from GuySuCo. Much more are expected to be severed from that corporation very soon. In the meantime, no new jobs are being created to absorb the thousands of young people who are leaving schools and tertiary institutions. The government is also taxing small businesses, the self employed and those employing just a few persons. High taxation is also working against expansion in production. In the rice growing areas, hundreds are unemployed or under employed as production is contracting. This is what is driving persons to commit crimes,” he charged.
He pointed to robberies over the past year saying that it could be observed that most of the targets are not wealthy people and that the police are not sometimes given their due kudos.
“These are small shop owners who cannot afford to hire security for their homes and/or their bottom house businesses. They are soft targets. It is also appropriate to note that quite a lot of these criminals are young persons….While we expect more effective actions from the police in the fight against crime, we must also urge and support them in their efforts.
He called for a plan by residents, of both urban and rural communities countrywide, to organise groups to assist in the crime fight, in a bid to better protect themselves from criminals, thus helping the GPF in its law enforcement works.
