Guyanese fleeing an ‘avalanche of crimes’

Jul 06, 2014 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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President Donald Ramotar’s warning to the Guyana Police Force, on 24th April, that the country might be facing an “avalanche of crimes” has heightened anxiety over the state of human safety, the rate of murders and the low level of public security in Guyana.
Secretary to the Guyana Defence Board Dr. Roger Luncheon, on 18th October 2013, was also obliged to admit that “robberies under arms were a significant contributing factor to the increase the rise in serious crimes.” Minister of Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, on 18th March 2013, criticised the Guyana Police Force – over which he has had ministerial responsibility for nearly eight years – for the number of serious unsolved crimes including murders by “execution.”
The entire nation, indeed, is alarmed at the rising rate murders and armed robberies. There have been over 2050 murders in Guyana from January 2000 to May 2014 and the annual rate continues to climb.
The United States Department of State Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) report on Guyana stated: “Serious crime, including murder and armed robbery, are common, especially in the suburban areas and the interior regions. The most recent information from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime lists Guyana’s 2010 homicide rate as 18.4 per 100,000 people – the fourth highest murder rate in South America behind Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. Guyana’s murder rate is three times higher than that of the United States.”
There were 58 murders up to 31st May 2014, compared to 52 for the same period in 2013. This represents a 12 per cent increase and a rate of nearly 12 murders every month. There were also 473 armed robberies for the year up to 31st May 2014, compared to 372 for the same period in 2013. This represents a 27 per cent increase and a rate of over 3 armed robberies every day.
There is every indication that the high rate of murders and other serious crimes has been a contributory factor to the high rate of emigration.
Guyana’s population, according to preliminary results from the Report on the Guyana Population and Housing Census 2012, has fallen to 747,884.  This represents a decline of 3,339 from the 751,223 recorded for 2002, when the previous census was conducted.
Census results show, among other things, a significant drop in the number of persons living in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region (No.6), which has been seriously affected by murder, armed robbery and piracy. The Region’s population now stands at 109,431, down from 123,695, representing a decline of 14,264. Chief Statistician and Census Officer Lennox Benjamin reported that the reduction was mainly influenced by ‘emigration.’
The US Embassy in Georgetown confirmed the ‘emigration’ trend. The Embassy reported that, during the last decade under the Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar presidencies, it issued 46,540 immigration visas to Guyanese. The Embassy, therefore, has been issuing an average of 4,500 immigrant visas per year since 2004. It reported that 4,572 were issued in 2013 alone. The flight of Guyanese to neighbouring countries – the Caribbean, Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname – has reinforced the causal connection between crime and emigration.
Blame for Guyana’s high level of insecurity, soaring murder rate and escalating ‘emigration’ lies squarely with the nearly 22-year long People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration which has failed consistently to implement a comprehensive counter-crime strategy. Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, rather than tackling the causes of murders and criminal violence, has become infatuated with a variety of expensive, elaborate but ineffectual exotic imports.
The Minister, on 28th January 2013, signed a $25M contract with the United Kingdom company, Capita Symonds, for the provision of consultancy services that focused, incredibly and in the midst of a spate of bloody murders, on “internal administration, succession-planning, professional probity and public relations.” The Minster, later that year, on 15th October 2013, signed a $163M contract for the United States company, the Emergence Group, to create a SWAT team. Such a unit – given the nature of murders in the hinterland, at sea, in homes and rural areas – will not contribute to improving investigative techniques and lowering the murder rate.
The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration has the responsibility to protect the population from violent crime. The Minister of Home Affairs, however, seems unruffled by the reports of criminal violence. He has not seen it necessary either to curb the soaring rate of murder or to explain to the nation why, after eight years in office, serious crimes continue to increase at such a phenomenal rate.
The 12-year Bharrat Jagdeo presidency, most particularly, will be remembered in this country’s history for the extraordinary number of murders which occurred. The trend has continued to rise in the 2-year Donald Ramotar presidency. It is likely to persist as long as Clement Rohee remains responsible for public security.  Guyanese, fearful of being murdered, will continue to flee from the “avalanche of crimes” to safer countries.

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