Whom does Mr. Rohee thinks he is fooling?

Feb 03, 2011 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Reading the SN article of February 1, 2011, captioned, “Law and order at the optimal level – Rohee” was most disturbing. What was even more concerning is that Minister Rohee listed out several flaky reasons why he believed this misnomer?
Law and order is at the optimal level for the PPP only, and their political sycophants, period! If you have limitations in intellect and have drunk the PPP cool-aid, you will surely think that the PPP is providing the crime solution to revive the nation. But ask Twyon Thomas who got his private burnt allegedly by two police officers, ask the relatives of Dionne Stephens, Sunita Muniram, Nalini Bhoge, Usawatie Persaud, Jairool Rohoman, Jacqueline George, Liloutie Seeram, Donnette Ward, Bridgette Gangadin, Bibi Raffina Saymar, Claudine Bentham and Yashpattie Samaroo and the score of women who suffered murder as a result of domestic violence under the watch of the PPP. Ask the relatives of the victims of the massacre in Lusignan and Bartica. These are the people with the intellect and the real pains and they will tell you in no uncertain terms that law and order is not at the optimal level in Guyana. Whom does Mr. Rohee think he is fooling?
Law and order is defined by dictionaries as the ‘safe and peaceful conditions in society that result when people obey the law’. Were these policemen who allegedly burnt this child obeying the law? Were the murders of the people in Lusignan and Bartica obeying the law? No, not at all! The more important question is what systems and machinery Mr. Rohee and the PPP have put in place to ensure that criminals are targeted in a sensible manner, captured and put in front of the courts.
We in the AFC are aware that Mr. Rohee is in a ‘location capsule’ where he speaks like if he is the Minister of Home Affairs of Singapore, since that country can more proudly say that law and order is at an optimal level. But it is furthest from the truth to say this is the case in Guyana.
Under the PPP, personal security management deteriorated since the days of Mr. F. Mohammed who did little for security improvement in this country. Then Gail Teixeira came along and was clueless about security matters. Then you had the minister who allegedly imposed phantom murderers on the masses. Mr. Rohee is no better than his PPP predecessors and thus this fail sense of security he is attempting to create is a figment of his imagination.
What has he done with respect to domestic violence, police abuses, violent crime and the take over of the country by the drug barons? Not much, maybe buy a few police cars and babble about the Citizens Security Programme which is still to deliver the bacon many years after its shelf life date as a project has passed.
In our opinion, Minister Rohee is lost in his own bubble which is clearly at a distant from the reality in Guyana. In recognition of how serious we feel about the personal security dilemma that the citizens of Guyana face in the AFC, we have proposed the following:
1. Increase substantially the salaries of law enforcement officers.
2. Immediately give the DEA clearance to set up full operation in Guyana with a clear focus on identifying, targeting, arresting and deporting all drug barons.
3. Re-engage the British and other friendly nations for technical and financial assistance to reform our crime fighting capabilities.
4. Putting more police officers on the streets by hiring civilians to do desk work in the Guyana Police Force.
5. Support a system where members of the Joint Services can work as close as possible to their matrimonial/parental home where practical.
6. Establish a group of forensic professionals to weed out white collar crime.
7. Establish specialised anti-crime units in every police division.
8. Establish a specialised Law Enforcement Academy to better train officers in all police sciences.
9. Start the Police/Schools Partnership Programme where every school in Guyana will be adopted by a dedicated police officer to strength the alliance between the police and youths.
10. Fund programmes at the University of Guyana that study the social changes in our society and how it impact on crime with a view of recommending approaches to the police to confront the evolving anti-social behaviour. Nipping crime in the bud is better that wasting money on guns, bullets and police cars.
I trust the Minister is better educated as a result of the AFC Action Plan which can be accessed for his usage at www.voteafc.com. There are more strategies in the document for his education on how we are going to confront organised crime and redress the break down in law and order in Guyana. Read the document Minister, this should be your priority reading for the rest of your term.
Sixtus Edwards.
General Secretary of the AFC

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