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We Forgot At Our own Peril

Jun 07, 2008 Editorial

It seems just a short while ago that this nation was plunged into torrents of mourning following two successive atrocities, the likes of which were unprecedented in Guyana. Yet it has been over four months since the mind-numbing massacre of eleven persons at Lusignan.

This was the first of the two heinous crimes which pained this nation and exposed its vulnerable underbelly. Less than one month after, another mindless slaughter took place at Bartica, sending an already petrified nation into fits of desperation.

In the period since, there has not been a great deal in which to find comfort. During this intervening period, the police have charged a few persons with these crimes but so far there is no indication that the authorities are anywhere near to understanding the motivations and modus operandi of these two terrible events in our country’s history.

The core of the gang or gangs is still presumably roaming free somewhere.
Despite a hefty reward being placed on the head of the alleged mastermind, there is no sign of him or no indication that the authorities are any closer to finding him or even the alleged mother of his child whose disappearance it was said triggered the first attack.

The lack of any serious response to the reward in itself raises questions about the degree of protection that the alleged barbarians may be enjoying as much as it raises concerns about the level of public confidence reposed in the Guyana Police Force.

The political directorate has continued to make the occasional repetition about getting those guilty. But they seem just as clueless as the police force as to just what was behind these two incidents and who are their masters.

There is in the general scheme of things very little hope that the authorities will make any headway in the near future.

The security forces have been mobilized and given orders to pursue and bring to justice the killers. So far the success of their efforts has been limited.

This of course is not comforting news to the public who are expected to carry on as normal. So long, however, as there remains within our society, or within reach of our society, a gang of cold-hearted killers who have no compunction in murdering children in their sleep, there will remain a blanket of fear and uncertainty over the future of Guyana.

We know that these are the things that the government is not keen on hearing.
They are more concerned with ensuring a positive image for the country.

This newspaper however has a responsibility to call the government and the security forces to account for the overwhelming failure so far to capture the core of the murderous gang.

We hope that civil society will join us in calling attention to this failure. This grouping had promised to be constantly engaged on the security question but ever since the last Stakeholders Meeting achieved its objective in so far as the government was concerned, not even a murmur has been forthcoming from the civil society groupings that were part of this process.

We need to remind the stakeholders of their responsibility to keep the pressure up on the government and the security forces until such time as tangible results are forthcoming in neutralizing the threats posed by these ruthless gunmen.

We can of course be the supreme optimists and wish for the problem to go away. We can even imagine that it does not exist. We can in other words choose to forget about this threat.

But in so doing we must accept that we do so at our own peril because a threat as the one that faced this nation in the first two months of this year does not simply vanish.

It will always be present, silent and dormant, but still present. Until such time as it is eradicated, only then should we breathe that long overdue sigh of relief.

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