Make a stand against the continuing carnage; Make the administration accountable

Aug 26, 2014 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,
I wish to base my comment on the recent statement by Freddie Kissoon (Kaieteur News, August 24) – Guyana: Journey into the chasm of Dantean Darkness.  It is my sincere hope that readers take or make time to read and digest what was described therein. Who hath eyes to read – Let them read. The truth has been written.  Better yet who hath ears to hear, let him hear, and pass it on. Darker days are yet to come.
Dante was considered to be one of the most important, inspired writers of the Middle Ages. His main work, the Commedia or the Divine Comedy is a verse work which combines both allegory and the real, in the hopes of promoting a true spiritual path for readers toward redemption and ascension into heaven.
Dante’s point is that as civic beings, we are responsible not only for our actions, but also for their results. The people he presents were all men and women of prestige and/or power, people in a position to influence others either directly or by example, and in one way or another they all failed. The suffering, the violence, the anarchy of Hell is a result of their failure to act up to their responsibilities or their outright abuse of those responsibilities. Sadly, this is the current state of affairs in Guyana, making Dante a prophet of sorts, and Guyana his land of Dis.
Once again I was horrified at the recent senseless killing of a waitress, a mother of five, at a Chinese Restaurant. This killing followed on the heels of last week’s shooting of Ashook Ragghu. Please let us not forget that both killings were perpetrated by individuals using motorcycles as their means of transportation.  Home-grown criminals, who do not have a hope in hell of pulling such a crime off in these parts. Trust me they’ll need much more than a motorbike.  The police have also reported a marked increase in gun-related crimes.
What are the factors contributing to this crime proliferation? Do the Police know? If not, who does? From where did all these guns come? How did so many firearms fall into the hands of unlicenced carriers?  Does the recent increase merit a call for the gun laws to be revised, revisited, repaired, restored, revamped, rehashed or plain and simple – removed.
In 2012, the Task Force on Narcotic Drug, and the National Drug Report launched by Clement Rohee Minister of Home Affairs reported that most of the illegal firearms originated in the U.S.A and Brazil.Brazil shares with Guyana a nearly 1,200 km border, and is also home to Taurus International Manufacturing Inc.  – the parent company of one of the largest firearm manufacturing companies in the world.
It was also reported in the Kaieteur News that the Government of Guyana was in talks with Brazil regarding the provision of satellite services to assist in the monitoring of the nation’s borders. What is the current state of affairs regarding this gesture? Did the talks break down and the borders were crossed?  Or did the parties concerned just talk the talk but did not walk the walk? Did the Guyana Government strengthen the military presence at the borders?  Is there a report anywhere to which the public can refer, and perhaps get a stronger sense of safety?
To the Guyanese population I say stay angry. Do not let the faces of the deceased go until meaningful, actual steps are taken to make Guyana a safer and less violent country. A better state of protection is called for. Now is exactly the time, before the nation falls back into a seemingly collective stupor in which no one does anything but hopes it doesn’t happen again.
Believe it or not the interest of public security has been compromised, and there are far too many lacunae in the gun laws of Guyana. Imagine that in 2010 gun violence had reached epidemic proportions, and here we are in 2014 facing the same diagnosis with no identifiable efforts thus far at remediation.
The gun-reacted deaths do not occur in isolation, but are manifestations of failures to which all Guyanese contributed, together.The perpetrators do not manufacture their own guns. They did not organize the gun trade that brought the guns to Guyana. They did not write the laws that prevented the government from acting against guns. They carry guns — and misuse guns — thanks to a national system of gun regulation that makes guns easily accessible to those least likely to use guns responsibly. The Administration should also take blame for this carnage, as they have failed miserably in their responsibility to ensure public safety and human security.
Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them. The anger level of the citizenry should not be abated until a higher state of protection is demonstrated.   A clear and concise message should be sent to the perpetrators, and the Government should stand firmly in prosecuting them to the full extent of the law.  They must be dealt with condignly.  Enough is Enough.
Yvonne Sam

---

---