Daily, the news in Guyana unfolds like a Lifetime movie, a soap opera, or a poorly written horror/thriller. Just when we think events cannot be more shocking, we are aghast and proven wrong.
The Fake Doctor
One of our Lifetime movie scenarios this week featured a young man, Mikhail McLennan, who pretended to be a doctor. Guyana has its fair share of impersonators. The sweet embrace with the lie comforts them when the truth is too harsh, or the stakes are too high. One may assume that detaching from reality is an issue only for the dirty and disheveled people we see on the streets. However, there are many who look well, are nicely dressed, and appear to be succeeding in life but are miles away from reality.
Faking it might be a coping mechanism for some in Guyana. When we assess the daily nefarious activities that plague our country, it is no wonder that a place of make believe might be seen as safer for some. And for this to be a place where some of our youth seek refuge, is sad. But it is also dangerous when it can be harmful to others. How did a young man get away with impersonating a doctor for what has been alleged to have been at least four years? It raises questions about how thorough we are with vetting professionals.
How did this happen? A young man in his twenties was able to fake his way into the medical profession.
Having read the young man’s attempt at an apology on social media and having listened to him in an interview and speaking in private to a few people, I began wondering about his mental health. There are others on social media who also questioned his mental health, but it is not our place to diagnose people. We know, however, that there are many cases of untreated mental illness in Guyana. Part of the issue is because of the stigma. The silence and shame around mental health issues needs to change.
Some have been calling for the young man to be charged. There should be a thorough investigation into how and why this happened. Were his relatives and friends aware that he was faking? Were there folks in authority who helped him to fake it? Someone must have known before the Guyana Cancer Institute issued a warning about him. What he did was scary when we think about patients whose lives could have been put at risk. It raises questions about the circumstances that led to this young man thinking this was okay. We must also wonder if there are other fake doctors putting the lives of Guyanese at risk.
A Teenager Burnt
While we grappled with the makings of a Lifetime movie by the revelations about the fake doctor, there were also allegations of more police brutality. We are supposed to have confidence and trust that the Guyana Police Force will serve and protect us. However, members of the police force are often accused of harming or killing citizens and if often plays like an unending horror/thriller. We remember when the police were accused of burning the privates of a 15-year-old boy in 2009 and in 2014 they were accused of burning the hands of a 19-year-old. One would imagine that in any society truth, justice and righteousness would be what guides us; and that harsh punishments would be given to those who harm people including police, and therefore such incidencts would not reoccur. But is Guyana a sane society guided by truth, justice, and righteousness?
There is another teenaged boy, Jahiem Peter who was burnt on Sunday while in police custody. If youth are unprotected while in police custody, who is really protected? How are the minds of our young people being shaped daily observing and absorbing the terror of Guyana’s horrors/thrillers? What perception are young people to have of the Guyana Police Force?
The police have accused this young man of burning himself, but why would he? The rogue cops of the Guyana Police Force continue to tarnish the image of the force and they need to desist from trying to insult our intelligence and be held accountable for their crimes.
There have been too many crimes by police against citizens and we are tired of these recurring atrocities. If we cannot have trust in the Guyana Police Force, who are people to turn to when they are wronged? Should they place their trust in vigilante justice? Would it be fair for citizens to retaliate? Unless the Guyana Police Force puts strict measures in place so that police would not think that they can harm citizens and get away with it, the stability of the nation is at risk. As I always say, it is not the majority of the Guyana Police Force that will kill or harm our people, but as the saying goes “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.”
There will be no criminal charges for the three cops accused of burning the teen, but they are to face departmental charges for neglect. Is this justice?
The Cocaine Aircraft
Perhaps we can at least count on the Guyana Police Force to prosecute foreigners when they commit crimes even when we are not confident that they will fairly judge their own. Like a soap opera, a plane landed in Mahdia on Sunday carrying over 400 million worth of cocaine and marijuana. A Brazilian, 23-year-old Mateus Vinicius Pontes Alberto, and 43-year-old Colombia national Rodrigues Canon Dandres Estiven were on the aircraft. Perhaps the foreigners view Guyana as a lawless country. There have been other incidents of planes carrying large amounts of drugs landing in Guyana over the last couple of years. Last year May another aircraft that was carrying drugs crashed landed at Orealla.
The Brazilian and Colombian have been fined over 400 million each and are supposed to be jailed for four years and six months. There are Guyanese who are caught with a little marijuana and are sent to prison for three years, but over four hundred million worth of drugs is only four and a half years? I supposed one would argue that they have also been fined almost a billion dollars between them. Who will be checking to see if these men will serve the time and pay the fine? Are we confident that they will not be quietly escorted from the country when the focus is on another Guyana horror/thriller scene next week? And one can only imagine the large amounts of drugs that might be passing through Guyana on a regular basis and though this horror/thriller part of our story brings prosperity to some, it is death to many others.
