Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan is once again advocating for citizens and businesses to move away from the use of cash to debit and credit cards and cheques for their transactions, while saying that it has been proven to result in a significant drop in crime.
“Going around with plastic or cheques is going to nip the percentage opportunity of crime by almost 35%, a statistic I just learned while being at the State Department, at the CBSI [Caribbean Basin Security Initiative] meeting,” Ramjattan, who only returned from Washington, in the United States, on Thursday, told Stabroek News.
Ramjattan said the huge amounts of money that people walk around with is one of the factors that has driven the crime rate and he has pleaded with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association to encourage businesses to move towards using plastic and cheques for transactions. “That is why one of my arguments is that, yes, we must have some increased surveillance at their premises and venues. I noticed that they have done an exposition to that effect, but the one that is primary in my mind is to let the country start the process with going plastic. Going plastic is carrying the debit and credit cards around, instead of carrying $6 million around and then liming at the seawall with that money,” he noted.
Towards this end, Ramjattan called for the business community to assist government to implement plans that would see less cash-based transactions.
“The big point about our business community is that we must go plastic and have everybody having cards. So if they [criminals] are coming to rob somebody, it knocks out the opportunity and it knocks out the crime by 35%. So, with more patrols, more assets on the road, not having the opportunity that you can get couple hundred thousand dollars or jewellery or all, it helps. I did not notice any statements recently, although meeting the PSC and GM&SA… about that. I am proud they had the exposition, but that was with surveillance equipment. That will help too but the greatest help would be making the country go plastic so that people wouldn’t walk around with huge amounts money and criminals would not feel that anybody coming out of a bank would have couple hundred thousand or a million dollars in their pockets, so that they could go and rob,” Ramjattan stated.
However, he noted that some persons in the business community as well as private citizens may not want to see a push for plastic and cheques because of their nefarious activities.
“It is important that we move towards that. But I am now understanding why some people would not like going plastic, because it would mean their transactions would come under the radar of the banking system and so on. So when some people are shouting that the crime situation is getting high, by not going plastic they are always, in a sense, indulging in the high crime rate. It could also be avoidance or evasion of taxes or a variety of reasons. But I would like specifically the business community and the banking association to start the talk about how to get this country [using] more plastic,” he said.
Using statistics gathered from his CBSI meeting, Ramjattan said he plans on discussing with Minister of Finance Winston Jordan how Guyana can see transition to the use of more banking cards and cheques.
He added, “We plan to speak to them on this issue of how we can go plastic. I am not an expert on this, on this issue and I don’t know what it takes but I am certain the business and banking community would know and the Ministry of Finance would know. We require a collaborative effort to get this thing going and of course we have to get the youth employment rates up and a number of other factors… which we have to work on.”
The CBSI meeting also indicated that a number of factors will have to be taken into account pertaining to the high crime rates in the region, Ramjattan related. But while this is so across the Caribbean, he said it was highlighted in Washington that Guyana is doing “a good job in recent times as it relates to catching the criminals.” Those positive efforts, Ramjattan added, should be noted by locals too.
