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That story about Guyana being safe

Feb 03, 2011 Editorial

Politicians issue statements designed to make their constituents feel comfortable. And this is what life is all about because people always need some reassurance. There must be something to motivate them otherwise the society would collapse.
The absence of reassurances has caused many people to leave the country and has others seeking to get out as fast as they can.
It must have been the need to reassure people that Guyana is among the safest country in this part of the world that caused Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee to tell the National Assembly that the country is safer than it was during the tenure of the People’s National Congress administration. Indeed, the current national leaders are insistent that everything good happened post 1992.
In fact, if one were to listen to them all the time one would get the impression that Guyana actually came into existence after 1992. One Minister told a forum that Amerindian women did not access secondary education until after 1992. If this were to be believed, then one would conclude that this Minister never had a secondary education in Guyana.
One could let the comments about Amerindian women and secondary education slip by but one would be hard pressed to believe that Guyana is safer now than at any time in its history. Minister Rohee told the National Assembly that Guyanese could now walk the streets without looking over their shoulders. Perhaps he was talking about those who have bodyguards to do the looking.
The truth is that prior to 1992 there was hardly any gun crime. The murders were mainly disorderly murders. There were no executions except those few that were blamed on the PNC and described as politically motivated executions and those judicial ones carried out by the state.
People are afraid to be on the streets or to visit nightclubs as they once did. They are afraid to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The result is that many of these night spots have closed their doors in preference to the more secure establishments like hotels and casinos of which there is one at this time.
Cars chasing after each other and trading bullets were post-1992 occurrences as are the brazen robberies of banks and major business houses. These were unheard of prior to 1992. These are almost everyday features. Guns feature prominently and in some cases people are shot dead during the robberies.
Minister Rohee may argue that there were the so-called ‘kick-down-the-door’ bandits prior to 1992. This group of criminals caused many to spend sleepless nights and to set up vigilante groups. However, this type of crime was short-lived because the gallows came into play and the criminals lost interest in such an activity.
People old enough to remember would talk about the days of window shopping, when show windows were nothing but a pane of glass. Goods were artistically displayed and people walked the streets to view them. Such unprotected show windows are now unheard of. Minister Rohee may wish to credit this development to the pre-1992 days.
He may also wish to explain why in many small shops there are so many protective bars and grills and customers being served through narrow openings.
Suffice it to say that the jailbreak that spawned the Buxton gunmen occurred in 2002 and led to policemen being mortally afraid to be seen in their uniform.
Police Commissioner Henry Green was even pushed to remark that between 2002 and 2007 more policemen died than between the founding of the force and 2002—almost five times as much. So much for the safety of the country as the Home Affairs Minister makes it out to be.

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