State-of-the-art forensic laboratory - or state apart

State-of-the-art forensic laboratory – or state apart

Jul 30, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am once again roused from my reverie, and the complacent feeling that things in Guyana, (though somewhat delayed) are beginning to look up. Sadly I was jolted back to reality on reading that the recently-completed $1B state-of-the-art forensic laboratory, had no facilities to conduct DNA testing.
“What was the main purpose (underlying rationale) for the construction of such an expensive edifice” Were the primary stakeholders (Guyana Police Force) allowed to have their say, their way and/or their day?
At the selfsame time can I attribute this blatant absence of DNA testing facilities to the work of severely myopic scientists to be? What caliber of staff would constitute the personnel of this laboratory that not only lacks the basic features but misses the mark by a great extent?
The word, state-of –the-art, is not applicable, being somewhat erroneous. It should be replaced, instead, by the more apt term “state-apart”, for only Guyana would possess a laboratory of such sort.
Taking a more profound look at the matter at hand, and given the present crime rate in Guyana, and common sense prevailing, one would have thought that DNA testing would be foremost in the minds of the appropriate authorities, and be viewed as a positive step towards crime diminution.
After all DNA analysis is key to either conviction or exoneration of suspects. It is also central to the identification of victims of crimes, accidents and disasters, driving the development of innovative methods in molecular genetics, statistics and the use of massive intelligence databases.
It has also been proven to be the biggest single advance in the field since conventional fingerprinting.In fact the DNA molecule has become perhaps the most powerful single tool in the multifaceted fight against crime. In Guyana far too many crime cases, and for far too long, have gone unsolved. DNA testing facilities is needed.
It is now routinely used to investigate a range of crimes from burglaries, to homicides. Often the investigation of a major crime using DNA technology has led to a number of different and often completely unrelated crimes being solved. When confronted with DNA evidence many offenders plead guilty, saving resources and money in criminal investigations, and through the court system. Guyana can do with all this and more.
At the commissioning ceremony it was stated that President Donald Ramotar ordered that the laboratory have facilities for DNA in the imminent future. What a blatant case of putting the cart before the horse?
Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee was also present at the ceremony. It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to lead/guide people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
I am in total concord with the views expressed by both oppositional parties, as I am experiencing severe difficulty in seeing the purpose in having a laboratory built that has evidently failed to serve its intended purpose.
I have arrived at the conclusion (though not hastily) that this so called state-of-the-art forensic laboratory only proved that the government is climbing the ladder of progress wrong by wrong, with this move further revealing a lack of insight, hindsight , foresight and a blight on the psyche of rational thinking Guyanese.
Yvonne Sam

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