Dear Editor,
Governmental spending is at an all-time high. Investment opportunities in Guyana are zealously promoted, especially when our leaders travel abroad. It is understandable that Government will therefore wish to portray Guyana as a safe place for investment. In terms of crime, statistics presented by the police force always seem to suggest that “serious crime” is on the decline. Of course, there are a variety of ways in which statistical data can be misused to mislead. For instance, a reduction in reports of armed robbery could signal a lack of confidence in the police, rather than an actual reduction of armed robbery. The police decision on what to categorize as serious crime could also produce misleading statistical data.
The Guyana Police Force’s statistics ring hollow. Guyanese on the road know that violent crime is at an all-time high. It is this type of crime that causes panic and anxiety. It is more than likely, that scores of Guyanese that are violently robbed on a daily basis, consider a police report useless. Statistically, it could also be easily established that execution-style murders are on the increase and that, as a category of serious crime, this type of murder is least likely to be solved.
The recent CCJ dispensing of the case involving the execution of Clementine Fiedtkou starkly illustrates the various manifestations in which the poor are punished (both victim and perpetrators) and the rich protected. The persons that pay others to kill are never brought to justice in Guyana. The reason is police corruption. It is usually easy to narrow the list of persons that have motives in execution-style killings. When those persons are wealthy, the investigators that are corrupt also increase their wealth. Statistically, it may be a useful exercise to examine the unexplained asset growth of senior investigators alongside the rate of unsolved execution-styled killings. But who will police the police? As long as the police do the bidding of their political masters we are all sitting ducks.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
