Will the family of this child get justice Mr. Rohee?

Jun 18, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor:
“The police are here not to create disorder. They are here to preserve order.” – Richard J. Daley
When I was a young man growing in Burnham’s Guyana, I perceived the police to be the good guys who were out to get the villains and make certain that children like myself (at that time), slept safely in their beds. I had no reason as a child to be fearful of Burnham’s Police although I was aware from my elders how this organisation supported the rigging of elections and turned a blind eye at the murder of political opponent. How different are they today?
I never thought this organisation would have evolved for the worst after 1997 where it now serves the function of protecting drug lords, murdering children, brutalizing and burning the genitals of children, sodomising old men and raping young women.
Children who should be studying, playing games, enjoying their friends and family are now being forced to march in the streets because an oppressive force has lost the common decency of recognising the line in the sand; you do not maim and murder children. The Jagdeo regime has made their biggest miscalculation to date by creating the conditions for children and mothers to be protesting on the streets.
The youths and women are the most powerful electoral constituency in any country but they are usually not very militant in their actions unless extreme situations force them into acts of militancy.  When the youths and women become militant, no Police, no Army, no Jagdeo can stop them because they will get what they want in the end,
The youths have never and will not now buy into the racist hogwash like “a vote against Jagdeo is a vote for the PNC”, or a “protest against Jagdeo is a protest for the PNC”.  They will measure the issues as they see it.  It has been permanently chiselled into their memory that their friend was allegedly murdered by an agent of the Jagdeo regime.
Why was this young child on the West Bank shot? Obviously he was not a hardened criminal. What minor crimes were he and his friends guilty of?  Smoking marijuana, taunting a retarded police murderer?
In the first place this police murderer inserted himself into these children comfort zone based on a complaint that could have been vindictive in the first place.  Therefore the police should have approached the situation with a mentality of gathering intelligence on any law breaking activity in progress, assess the threat before they took measures to neutralise the threat?  In neutralising I mean arresting the alleged law breakers, not murdering them.
The treatment given to this young man proves many things to me. It proved a dysfunctional Police Force is alive and well in Guyana. It proved that the police are free to deal with suspects in any manner they please with no sort of sanction from the political directorate. It highlights what many poor citizens have to endure on a daily basis in Guyana whether they are innocent or guilty.  It proves that an army of untrained criminals have infiltrated an organisation that was formed to upkeep the law. It proved that the concept of basic human rights is far from a reality in Guyana. It proved that this is how the law deals with anybody who defies authority. It proved that in Guyana every person is considered guilty until proven innocent. It proved that the law is now upside down.
It highlights the methodology used by an arm of the Jagdeo regime in driving fear in the hearts of the people.  It proves how a corrupt government ensures its survival – with brute, force and murder. It proves that this Jagdeo regime is no better than the Burnham regime save and except Burnham rigged elections.
In a related case, Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai, are walking the streets of Guyana free since November 2009 while a tortured teen is fighting for his rights to compensation because of the sterling effort of an honourable son of the soil: Khemraj Ramjattan. I suspect this alleged murderer in uniform who is associated with the Kelvin Fraser case will also be walking the streets of Guyana a free man in the not too distant future, while his victim will be laid to rest, permanently stolen from his parents and our society.
I call on the Cde Clement Rohee, the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs to take his blinkers off and stop accusing people of “wallow in negativism and destructive criticism of the Forces” and bring himself back to reality.  The reality is that the Guyana Police Force is a destructive force that is hiring more and more criminals within its ranks.  Is there no sort of vetting process to keep the criminals out of the Force?
Cde Rohee being a former roots man that suffered at the hand of Burnham’s oppressors, you should wake up and condemn this murder and demand compensation for the family of this child and the child who was maimed at the Leonora Police Station.  I fully understand Cde Rohee’s status has evolved since he is now counted as one of the new aristocrat in Guyana, but he should never forget his past.  Why?  The old people say those “who forget their past are condemned to re-live it” and I am sure Cde Rohee would not want to be hunted by Henry Greene’s “dogs of war” in the future.
Will the family of this child secure justice Cde Rohee?
Cde Rohee, the Police Force does not deserve your defence today, they deserve a full and frank pulling up since their slip is showing.  Heads must roll in the West Demerara Police Division for these constant grave lapses at proper policing. Cde Rohee, as you said “goat did na bite you” and thus your Presidential ambitions can be well served if the nation is to see you lead the reform of this organisation because so far you have shown negligible leadership at reforming the Police Force but it is not too late.  The Police Force must know their place as the protector of the nation, not the creator of the disorder in the Guyanese society.
Sasenarine Singh

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