All Guyanese must strongly condemn acts of brutality

Nov 09, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,

It is with dismay I saw on the front pages of the Kaieteur news dated 31, October, 2009 the badly burnt and incapacitated body of a young man alleged to be a suspect in a current murder probe.

When I share this piece of article with fellow co workers the very morning it was shocking and total disbelief on the faces of all. As I went on with my personal business later in day, I could hear all most everyone, the market vendors, shoppers, doctors, bus operators, and the man in the street, chatting about the newspaper article. But what was more revealing was that everyone totally disagreed with this gross act of torture and cruelty that was meted out to this young man.

A person is innocent until proven guilty and as far as I am concerned, there is no need for magistrates and judges, the police have taken up these functions.

For a very long time there were allegations of police and solider brutality, but the extent have reached a point that every descent-minded Guyanese need to stop and make our voices heard loud and clear, by strongly condemning all acts of brutality, especially from our security forces.

It must stop now and we demand a better way of handling criminal matters.

The young people of this country deserve to have a better display of professionalism and decency from the very police force that is encouraging young people to join the Guyana Police Force.

A call is made to the Government of Guyana that it is not the policy of the administration to condone such behaviour; the opposition must also condemn the unwanted barbaric act.

In closing it is my sincere hope that we as a nation will stand up and stamp out all display of ignorance and work together for a better Guyana.

We cannot afford to continue on this destructive path we have went there before and it caused us pain. We should strive to build a better nation with a display of professional thinking and we will not have all these incidents of lawlessness within our society. A

voice in the wilderness is calling out to all right minded Guyanese, it is time for change in the system of governance, it is time to usher in a new way of administering justice and fair play.

Come 2010 we must think very carefully whether we make that change that is so necessary for national development, or we continue on this path and go down as a failed nation. As the great poet the late Martin Carter wrote we either swim together or sink together the choice is ours.

Andre Fortune