Getting closer and closer to the barb-wired academy

Dec 25, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Permit me to pen my response to the letter by Pastor Gideon Cecil, December 22, Kaieteur News entitled; “Guyana must restart hanging convicted murders”. In his article he outlined a plethora of reasons for what currently ails Guyana, with some opprobrium thrown in for good measure. Sadly missing were the true deep-rooted causes. At the risk of sounding like the portender of doom, or a budding naysayer, let me unhesitatingly state in an air of deep respect that I am in full agreement with the pastor’s expressed concerns. However, the question “Why” has a somewhat rhetorical and mundane ring to it.
Fast backward to October 23, 2014 where in a Kaieteur News article titled: Who speaks for the Youth? I posed a similar question, endeavouring to arouse the awareness of all interested parties, including the government to the possible sequelae of unemployment, underemployment, absence of programmes for youths, and the insidious proliferation of heinous crimes and dastardly acts by young perpetrators. Incidentally the issue was brought into the limelight, when the general populace was basking in the summer frenzy of impending change.
It is blatantly apparent that we have not reached where we are overnight.
The warning signs were in place, the saplings were germinating, especially when the youths became disconnected from society and its values, and adults became their prime targets. Now here we are two years later in the winter of our discontent wringing hands, wiping furrowed brows, searching frantically for answers, instead of holding our collective heads in shame. Let us not forget that there is an answer to every problem and also within every problem lies the seeds of its own solution. We have seen those acts, now we need to face the facts— our children have become our oppressors.
It is not my intent to minimize the extent or seriousness of the problem of youth violence, but instead to ensure that the issue receives the action(s) that would assure deterrence and ultimately prevent a recurrence. In other words a serious self-examination is imperative.
Straight from the top the government should be held accountable and not let off the hook until campaign promises, especially the youth-oriented ones are fulfilled to the satisfaction of the electorates. Is this the change that was promised? To paraphrase the pastor; “I am yet to hear the voice of the Minister of Public Security, our President and all our foreign missions, particularly the US, Canadians and British, since they happen to be the brainchild of this APNU+AFC government on how to tackle the crime situation”. Why have their voices not been heard? How long have their muted condition been present? Have they been provoked or invoked, to the point of vocal delivery? Let’s start our own clean up at home before soliciting foreign assistance.
Currently the nation is functioning in a state of moral decrepitude, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the youths have been paying careful attention all along to the fraudulent and deceptive goings on of Government ministers. Politicians are functioning in their own created kind of moral relativism. Society no longer believes that there exists absolute right and wrong.
Education is much more than reading and writing, and it must focus on morals, virtues and values. In other words education must show young people how to live. The rise in youth crime reflects the moral deficit present, and our failure in teaching them right from wrong, but then again how can we teach them when we ourselves no longer know what is right and wrong. Guyana has become fragmented with no consensus on absolute moral values.
No one advocates child abuse, but children must be loved and disciplined. Effective moral teaching and discipline begins at home. Failure to discipline our children is making criminals of them. It is crystal clear, moral teaching when done properly will last a lifetime. Many parents today are not willing to put in the time necessary to raise a law-abiding citizen, and the youth are literally raising themselves.
The Bible –The Word of God is the foundation of all knowledge, with God being the Supreme Educator. The Bible is extremely far from the sum total of knowledge. It is the Basis—the Foundation, the beginning, and the foundational approach to the acquisition of discoverable knowledge.
The book of Isiah can be referred to as an end time book, with many gloomy prophecies recorded to take place, just before the positive things predicted for the world after Jesus’ second coming, Isiah shows that our time is to be a violent time, and specifically that a portion of the violence affecting the nation. Isiah 3
Broken families are another contributing factor to our rise in youth crime. Statistics show that children living with both natural parents are less likely to fall prey to criminal acts. Like it or not some children are born into homes without aspirations, where crime is a lifestyle and honest values are lacking. Crime is, fundamentally, an individual choice, but no choice is made in isolation. Once identified, the government, social agencies, teachers etc. and respective information- sharing agencies should step in before the youth gets on the conveyor belt moving him closer and closer to the barbed wired academy.
Flooding the streets with more police is certainly not the answer to the problem, by no stretch of the human imagination. I am calling on President Granger to be the situation changer, requesting that he appoints without delay a new Task Force, mandated to bring this plague to an end. The Task Force will work in close collaboration with educational, religious, social, recreational and legal agencies in problem communities, problem families, and problem areas. Our focus must now be on actions, not words.
Yvonne Sam

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