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Criminal-minded law enforcers

Jan 29, 2013 Editorial

 

Guyana, by virtue of its natural resources, has attracted a wave of people from foreign lands because these people have the technology to exploit these resources, technology that we lack in Guyana. We have been panning for gold for as long as we can remember. When the first wave of foreigners came at our invitation to help exploit the gold; they came from the Caribbean shores, mainly from St Lucia and St Vincent. They came equipped to undertake the backbreaking work.
These people made their wealth and most of them settled. The hinterland communities of Bartica, Mahdia, Ekereku, Imbaimadai and Kurupung bear testimony to the impact these people made. They are populated by the offspring of these islanders.
Today, there is a new generation of foreigners; they come from Brazil and from those parts of Africa where the search of gold is not dissimilar from the search in Guyana.
The Brazilians came with sophisticated equipment that allows for exploration in areas previously considered inaccessible and they have been remarkably successful. So successful has been their exploration that the amount of gold produced is Guyana has all but equaled the production figures during the days of the Omai Gold Mines—a large open pit gold mining operation.
The Brazilians are also settling in the same way the St Lucians and other Caribbean nationals are. They, however, are concentrating in the city where they have established businesses that include hotels and eating houses that cater to Brazilian tastes. They have brought their culture.
Yet the success of the Brazilians does not come without a cost to them. They have been the targets of armed criminals and more recently, people professing to be members of the law enforcement agencies.  They have been shaken down, and sometimes killed. In cases where they have fought back the end result has been nothing less than frustrating to them.
Recently, there was a report that some of them pursued and killed two policemen. The policemen had actually robbed their mining camps. There were arrests but then the suspects have had to be released. It transpires that one of the policemen was posted to the hinterland after he was found to have been involved in a corrupt transaction on the coast while a serving member of the Guyana Police Force. This was because the authorities felt that punishing an errant policeman meant posting him to the hinterland. A hinterland posting for these policemen is a blessing in disguise.
Now there is another event, this time featuring members of the army. They have reportedly raided a Brazilian mining camp while fully armed and of robbing the people. This is an embarrassment to law enforcement in Guyana; it highlights the extent of corruption in the society. It is not often that a member of the law enforcement agencies would barefacedly engage in criminal activities.
For this to happen, the officers in charge must be in collusion. This was the case when some soldiers took a young man off a boat at Parika and killed him after they had robbed him. The abduction of this man was done in full view of members of the travelling public.
We had policemen who effected a robbery getting captured by an equally corrupt group who was more interested in taking control of the stolen loot. Fortunately all these people have been arrested. Quite common, too, are the reports of shakedowns. A Brazilian died in the recent boat collision in the Mazaruni River. The Brazilians say that the decomposed body is now no good because the police refused to cooperate with its transportation unless they were paid a substantial sum.
This recent case of ranks of the army openly robbing Brazilians is ugly. The army says it will do something about this. This effort should see the culprits not only being kicked out of the ranks they should also be jailed for an extended period.
People who take an oath to serve and to protect deserve a harsher punishment than the ordinary criminal. They are the people who conspire to tarnish the image of the law enforcement entities and consequently, the image of the entire country.

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