A LIFE LOST CANNOT BE REPLACED

Sep 18, 2015 Features / Columnists, My Column

It was the late Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, who said: Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times that they rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils and crimes.
He also said: Wherever poverty exists there will be crime. In Guyana, crime, especially murders and armed robberies are on the minds of almost every Guyanese. Murders and armed robberies which are occurring almost daily did not start overnight; rather, they were there from time immemorial.
But murderers and armed robbers are not monsters; they are men and women. That is the most frightening thing about them. They are young men whose callous use of high-powered weapons to murder innocent civilians is also most frightening. Many are glued to their homes at night, terror-stricken.
All murder is disastrous, ruinous, profoundly lamentable and uncomforting. Life is the most precious gift that the Creator gave to mankind which, ironically, when senselessly taken is of no use to the perpetrator.
A Roman Catholic priest has said that every person slaughtered is the demise of a human being who cannot be replaced. This reinforces the point that any number of murders, however low, is catastrophic.
While crime is endemic, it is committed by less than one percent of the population. Poverty on the other hand is pandemic in Guyana where almost half of the population lives below the poverty line. Poverty is a breeding ground for crime, including armed robberies and murders. Although many poverty-stricken people would seek help from religious organizations of all kinds, others will express their discontent and frustration in extremely violent crimes.
The truth is, when people, especially youths are trapped in the monstrous grip of poverty they will lash out in all directions. Rebellion against the existing social and economic inequities in society seems to find expression in acts of criminality.
In order to destroy the breeding ground of crime, a collaborative effort is required by the coalition government, the community and the police to stem the increasing influx of illegal high-powered firearms into the country. They have to make a concerted effort to alleviate the scourge of abject poverty that is evident all across the nation.
The fact that the illegal guns are entering the country is admittedly, troubling. The government must be very careful in not making the perpetrators feel confident by promulgating the notion that it does not have the resources to control its borders. The fight against crime cannot be won with a gun amnesty, joint service patrol or by the police alone. Everyone must be involved. Although the public currently is in a heightened fear of gun-related crimes, the government, especially the Minister of Public Security and the police cannot panic.
Crime and poverty which have stifled the economic development in Guyana must be reduced. The APNU+AFC coalition government must find ways to end joblessness and hopelessness among the youths, recondition their minds either through a nurturing school curriculum or through remedial and crime prevention programmes that would prepare them for work and tertiary education instead of crime.
Solomon, supposedly the wisest man ever on earth, admonished us in Proverbs 22: 6 to “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Most of the population is alive because they recognize it is immoral and illegal to murder.
They also recognized that to live in abject poverty is like living in hell. But the government must not take comfort in the statistics that murders and armed robberies in Guyana are lower than those in other countries in the region.
One murder is one too many! If the government does not solve the crime and poverty issue, fear will overtake the nation and more innocent lives will be lost. A life lost cannot be replaced! The government should take heed.

Latest News

A LIFE LOST CANNOT BE REPLACED

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Slingerz FC shines at Guyana Energy Conference and Youth Forum

Guyana’s rising Chess stars take on Barbados

Elite clubs will challenge KFC monopoly on team...

Bristol named manager as Guyana gears up for 2025...

BCB puts a halt to cricket season due to...

Changes made to KMTC Phagwah Horse race meet

Features/Columnists

The clock and the cloud

CARICOM Nations Should Respond Together To new U.S. Policies

Wood snake year

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

A LIFE LOST CANNOT BE REPLACED

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]