Latest update June 3rd, 2026 12:40 AM
Government must play its part in protecting children
Dear Editor,
The famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “it is good to express a thing twice right at the outset, and so to give it a right foot and also a left one.” Truth can surely stand on one leg, but with two it will be able to walk and get around. In the Kaieteur News editorial of May 16, “A Breakdown of The Family”, all the root causes for the moral turpitude which has enmeshed Guyana, was carefully delineated, and measures aimed at remediation proffered in abundance.
However, with no malice aforethought, or any intent to rend holes in your journalistic display, permit me to point out what in my opinion was a blatant omission. Regarding specifically your reference to the rape and abuse of children especially those from poor homes, where the likely perpetrators were identified. Therein lies the crux of the problem, blatant omission at addressing the root cause of the problem—the adults. Yes, those adults who in order to satisfy their sexual urges, utilize their fiscal ability to take advantage of the poverty, frailty, vulnerability, and naïveté of these young, developing minds . Despite the plethora of remedial measures nowhere in the editorial is any specific reference/ mention made regarding these adults and what form of treatment should be administered. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies. The question posed in the editorial. Why is the government not acting faster to prevent or reduce domestic violence and the abuse of children? Seems misleading at best.
Is this behavior a new phenomenon? No, it has been around for years, in fact it may even surreptitiously be celebrating its own presence during this 50th.anniversary.Do not be mistaken, as I have said before I am all in agreement with what has been said in the editorial , but at the selfsame time we must call a spade a spade and not a mere garden tool. The Government to whom you have alluded that should be acting fasterto improve this lamentable situation should instead be working in tandem with agencies aimed at treating and eradicating this longstanding scourge.
Within the very governmental structure lurks some of theses said miscreants. Even in my youthful era in Guyana, while a junior Civil Servant, there were circulating rumours of government officials who frequently sought sexual favours from underage females. Once again according to Nietzsche truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, does the enlightened man dislike to wade into its waters. The truth be told the answer does not only lie with parents and those in authority to protect children, but with the Government. No longer can we allow our heads to be stuck in the sand like the proverbial ostrich but instead the truth should be faced head on and dealt with.
Aren’t these very adults the ones who are supposed to protect these young impressionable minds open to immoral influences, instead of sending through their actions a distorted message to these females, that their bodies can be sources of revenue? The purity of our young females must be protected and the issue addressed with the adults being shown for what they really are—conspirators, guilty to some degree of quasi grooming. The blame and shame does not all lie in a straight line; we cannot afford to give the adults seeming editorial immunity by excluding them from the equation.
Critics have argues that adults especially those in authority find it easy to influence the young that the notion of consent becomes meaningless. As we prepare for our 50th, an era of change I am sending the call loud and clear, summoning all in authority the powers that be to immediately address this issue from the perspective of the main agent, the initiator and the adult. Treatment should include the processes by which the reports are assessed, investigated, and substantiated. The adult is the initiator or at best the upholder. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.
Yvonne Sam
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