The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) yesterday said that it had noted with intense concern the level of crime being perpetrated in Guyana, more particularly, in recent times.
It did not identify any particular crime but there was broad public concern yesterday over the fatal shooting of former Chief Education Officer Olato Sam at Plaisance.
“Whilst the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has posited that their official crime statistics indicate a decline in crime, the GCCI views this as not reflecting the reality of the prevailing circumstances. Rather, and alarmingly so, the GCCI views the decline in official statistics as demonstrative of a loss in confidence in the GPF and reflective of an underreporting in criminal perpetration”, the Chamber said.
The Chamber of Commerce called on the police force to adjust its lax posture on crime and, echoed the sentiments recently expressed by the Minister of Home Affairs, to clamp down on the lawless malaise existing in daily life. Lawlessness creates the conditions under which crime flourishes, the GCCI said.
“The GCCI remains extremely concerned that should criminal acts continue unabated, that a conducive environment for doing business in Guyana will begin to erode and loss or bodily harm of Guyana’s most valuable resource – its people – will be damaging to our prospects for economic development”, the business body said.
On Thursday, a former President of the GCCI, Timothy Tucker expressed exasperation at the crime situation noting a report about a remigrant from Venezuela who was killed by bicycle bandits.
On his Facebook page he said: “GPF reports crime is on the decline, Lamaha Gardens residents complain to the top cop that they can’t walk day or night, his response is that `stats show different and that we have to accept that we will be subjected to depressed communities’”. He described that response as nonsense and said that the Minister of Home Affairs said GPF need to do better as it relates to crime. He also said that there’s a need for a change of leadership in the Guyana Police Force.
