Guyana’s social civil restlessness

Sep 22, 2013 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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Guyana is facing relentless restlessness as a result of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)’s chronic maladministration. Simmering civil unrest has become part of the prevalent pattern of public protest against the perceived mismanagement of public security, public works and public schools. Guyana, in the new millennium, has become more continuously insecure and unstable than ever before, owing to the high rate of criminal violence and low quality of life.
The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana was moved to express its deep concern that the recent spate of criminal violence was “causing citizens to believe that a new wave of anarchy and lawlessness is in the making.” The Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce complained “We need to press the panic button. It is time to panic…I am asking that something drastic be done about the increase in crime here.” The Number 66 Fishermen’s Co-op Society complained that pirates continue to attack and rob fishermen on the Corentyne Coast.
Guyana Police Force statistics confirm just how bad the public security and human safety situation had become. There had been a six percent increase in serious crimes – murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping – at the end of August, in comparison with the corresponding period in 2012.
There were 155 more reports of serious crimes from 1st January to 31st August than for the same period in 2012.   There was a three percent increase in robbery under arms at the end of August, with 692 reports compared to 672 for the same period in 2012. The statistics indicate an increase of 10 per cent in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms.
The public education system is plagued by problems. Some schools, many in Georgetown and East Coast Demerara, were unable to start classes on the first day of the new school term. Difficulties included insufficient class space and unkempt schoolyards. Over a hundred Grade Six students of the St Agnes Primary School were locked out of their respective classes during the morning period owing to insufficient space.
The Beterverwagting Practical Instruction Centre and the Moblissa Primary School were unprepared for their students. Parents of the Port Kaituma Primary School in the Barima-Waini Region and La Parfaite Harmonie Primary School in West Demerara protested against the deplorable sanitary conditions which posed a threat to the health of their children.
It is no surprise that the Global Burden of Diseases Injuries and Risk Factors Study 2010, released by the World Bank, has placed Guyana among the worst performers in Latin America and the Caribbean. The World Bank described the Study as the largest, systematic, scientific effort to quantify levels and trends of health loss due to diseases, injuries and risks.
The death of a child in the Wai Wai village of Masakenari in the Rupununi Region – as a result of a diarrhoea outbreak in September – confirmed Guyana’s unfavourable health rating. That was a grim reminder of the deaths of ten other children who died from gastroenteritis earlier this year in the Barima-Waini Region.
There have also been sporadic protests by citizens to call attention to their grievances. Irate residents blocked access to the 58 km-long Ituni-Kwakwani road to protest the deplorable state of the road which was damaged by the movement of heavy-duty vehicles.  Minibus drivers in Bartica expressed their anger after a key road became almost impassable, one year after millions of dollars were spent to fix it. The United Minibus Association of Bartica and residents at that time had embarked on protest actions for repairs to be made.
Restlessness is rife. The current social crisis is the result of a series of policy blunders by the PPPC administration in its approach to governance over the past two decades.
The PPPC’s first miscalculation is based on its misunderstanding of the consequences of its social policy. The fact is that an unprecedented number of people in this country are now living in slums, squatter settlements, shantytowns and depressed villages. The poorest people – particularly the unemployed, uneducated youth – and the poorest parts of the country are generally badly served by public utilities and amenities. This fact has generated a social crisis that is affecting public health, public security and public services – including education and social protection.
The poor are often more exposed to risky events and situations than the rich. The combination of wrong-headed policies with a restive poor population is the dangerous consequence of the PPPC’s model of governance in this country.
The PPPC’s second big mistake is its misapplication of an obsolete, over-centralised model of direct management of local communities. This is exemplified by the central government’s atrocious treatment of municipalities and regional democratic councils and its destruction of neighbourhood democratic councils. The PPPC’s disregard for community sensibilities and interests has triggered anti-administration attitudes in many communities around the country.
The PPPC’s third mistake has been its miscalculation of the illusory efficacy of ‘brute-force’ police power. Strong-arm tactics are too costly and too easily tend to overestimate the effectiveness of law enforcement in dealing with the poor.
It is a result of its misguided policies and misplaced priorities that the administration claims to spend billions on public services and public security but actually achieves so little.

 

 

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