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Govt. needs to aggressively fight violent crimes – APNU
By Kiana Wilburg
The apparent lack of aggressive responses compounded with government’s silence on the current surge in violent
Opposition Leader, David Granger
crimes for the period January to September was highlighted by Opposition Leader, David Granger and his Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Winston Felix yesterday.
At A Partnership for National Unity’s weekly presser which was held at the party’s Hadfield Street, Georgetown, Headquarters, Granger told media operatives that his coalition is alarmed at the rising rate of violent crime, especially armed robbery, murder, suicide, rape, road and river deaths, piracy and other inter-personal violence.
His comments came in light of partial statistics released by the Guyana Police Force on violent crime. Though the statistics were incomplete, Granger said that it points to a dangerous deterioration in the state of human safety.
As it relates to data on armed robbery, the Opposition Leader said that the police report revealed that there has been an increase of 15 percent in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a two percent increase in armed robberies in which instruments other than firearms were used. The rate of robbery under arms increased by 11 percent.
With regard to data on murder and suicide, Granger stated that this is not usually made available. He said that former Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, had reported that approximately 180 to 200 people die as a result of suicide every year. Guyana with 26.4 suicides per 100,000 people in 2006, Granger pointed out, is said to have the fourth highest suicide rate in the world.
He also noted that data for rape are not usually made available as well. He mentioned that the US Department of State’s report on Human Rights calculated that during 2012, authorities charged 102 persons for the crime of rape. Only 28 of these, he said, were convicted while 89 persons were charged with statutory rape and four were convicted.
As for road fatalities, Granger said that these resulted from road traffic accidents which surged to 100 compared to 75 for the similar period in 2013.
The Opposition Leader said too that the Maritime Administration Department reported 12 deaths and the disappearance of eight persons lost at sea as a result of marine accidents and violent attacks by pirates on fishermen and other marine workers during the first half of 2012.
“Violent crime is sucking the oxygen out of our economic development. Guyana is becoming an increasingly dangerous country. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Caribbean Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security Report 2012, identified Guyana as country affected by high levels of crime that is hindering development,” Granger lamented.
APNU’s Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Winston Felix
He then called on political parties, trade unions and civil society organizations to demand that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration provide greater protection for citizens from violent crime. President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, he said, must explain to the nation exactly how they intend to stop the surge in violent crime.
Felix also told the media that the Guyana Police Force needs upgrading, proper resourcing and reforming.
He expressed his concern about the absence of certain information being provided on some forms of crime which make Guyana “a scary place to live” and called on journalists to be more searching in their questions and challenge the government for a response on why data on rape and suicide are not put in the public domain.
Granger was then asked what his coalition is doing in terms of reaching out to communities such as Albouystown and Tiger Bay where gun crimes are somewhat prevalent.
The Opposition leader stated that he has been to 15 communities over the last 28 days, during his coalition’s local government outreach programme and has spoken to over 1,200 people in those communities.
“We are doing work…and I think that it is effective and we have been doing a lot of work on local government issues and showing the nexus between the rotten local government system and the problems that currently exist in the communities. So yes, we are doing work…But government needs to address the surge in violent crime aggressively,” Granger concluded.
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