Neither Gov’t nor Ramjattan contemplating midnight curfew

Mar 24, 2017 News

The issue surrounding the matter of the national curfew being lowered from 02:00 am to midnight

Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan

has attracted much discourse on several fora over the last few days.
The Social Media platform has also been buzzing with comments from persons using all kinds of words and memes to condemn the move.
Reports from several sections of the media would have placed Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan as the architect behind the lowering of the curfew.
However, State Minister Joseph Harmon thinks that sometimes, statements made by Ministers are often taken and “(twisted) for purposes that are not wholly in the public interest” as he sought to clarify the statements made by Ramjattan.
Harmon during the Post-Cabinet Press Briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency, Georgetown, yesterday, said that Minister Ramjattan is on record stating that religious organisations had approached him about changing the opening hours of night spots from 2:00am to midnight.
Harmon made it clear that Ramjattan was at the time stating the position of several religious bodies. He further stated that Ramjattan did not take a policy position on the matter.
The State Minister said that Cabinet during its March 21 meeting did not discuss the matter of moving the curfew.
“The Minister is very clear on that, and I would like to clarify this so that we do not spin things

State Minister, Joseph Harmon

in a way when (a) Minister makes these statements. (Ramjattan) never said that was his position or this was the government’s position. What he said is that these were representations made to him by religious organisations, and clearly it is not a position of policy that has been taken by the Government.”
The implementation of the 2 am curfew back in July 2015 has been a contentious one.
The curfew – according to reports – was birthed when Women’s Organisations began turning up the heat; calling on the Public Security Ministry to act. Their call came at a time when domestic violence was rampant.
Minister Ramjattan stood firmly by his decision. On several occasions, he would seek to reiterate the motivation behind the implementation of the curfew. These include the number of road accidents on the roadways, domestic violence and most recently; statistics which indicate that Guyana has the highest percentage of binge (overindulge) of alcohol in the Caribbean.

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