A ridiculous and short-sighted idea

Sep 30, 2010 Letters

The Editor,
I refer to Mr. Harry Gill’s “Open Letter to Commissioner Henry Greene”, published in Kaieteur News on 29 September 2010. I am an avid reader of Kaieteur News, and I encourage all my Guyanese brothers, sisters and friends here in the UK to read Kaieteur News. I am a fan of Freddie Kissoon in particular, and I know that one day Guyanese will finally recognise Freddie for his wonderful contributions to our country in his own unique, short-but-sweet journalistic style.
Many people do not realise just how important Kissoon’s work is for the future liberation of Guyana, but rest assured that the politicians who despise Freddie recognise his value, and future generations of Guyanese will be talking about Freddie. It’s only a matter of time.
Now back to Mr. Gill. Let me not hesitate to say that I have not read more ridiculous and short-sighted nonsense in my entire life on planet Earth.
Mr. Gill’s great idea about rewarding Guyanese police officers with hard cash is an abuse of the intellect of the people of Guyana, and is to say the least, absolutely preposterous rubbish.
The fact that there is a Gun Buy-Back Programme in New York is no indication that the same can just be imported into Guyana.
For such incentive programmes to have a chance to succeed in any country, one fundamental prerequisite must be the generally proven integrity of the Police Force and the military.
And of course every Guyanese, except Mr. Gill perhaps, knows that the Guyana Police Force is very low on the integrity scale.
Almost daily we hear of police officers who have been arrested, charged, or even incarcerated for their criminality and their association with things criminal.
Likewise the military; soldiers are almost on a daily basis involved in criminal activity, victimizing the very population they are paid and mandated to serve.
The examples are too numerous to mention. In synthesis, the following factors make Mr. Gill’s proposal a very shabby and irresponsible one:
1. The Guyana Police Force does not have the sufficient confidence of the people of Guyana, that would allow the people to support such a proposal, and to allow it to succeed; our guys are simply too corrupt. For example, it is alleged that police officers, particularly traffic cops, have been known to boast that they don’t even need to touch their salaries, given the amount of money they extort daily, from road users, taxi drivers, etc;
2. Police officers should not be seen to be exalted over other hard-working public servants (teachers, nurses, etc.) who also serve the people of Guyana with integrity and commitment, on very little pay;
3. While their work is in the more hazardous category, police officers are paid public servants, who are specially trained to execute their special kind of duties, and their work in apprehending criminals is no favour to the people of Guyana;
4. It is a terrible idea to literally begin to pay police officers in the manner that Mr. Gill is suggesting, given the incentive for the added spate of corruption that such an incentive would unleash on a Police Force that is not only suspect, but is regularly seen to harbour criminals in uniform.
The above are only four points that could easily stretch to 104 points, if this was not just a newspaper article.
Concerned Guyanese

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