Compassion is lacking for poor people in Guyana

Apr 11, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
After reading in the Kaieteur News the letter “Time to stop jailing our youths” for such a crime” by Rajendra Bisessar, it made me feel so good to see that there are others who are very attentive, caring and seriously concerned with the ludicrous things going on within the scheme of things. Indeed, it does give some assurance to the distant voices echoing from the wilderness. The letter is an appeal to those in authority – who are the ones responsible for instituting and prescribing laws – to revisit the outrageous and ridiculous fines and imprisonment imposed on our young people for being in possession of a negligible amount of marijuana; in some cases a “joint”, the equivalent to a cigarette.
I am in total agreement with Bisessar, I find many of these charges and penalties highly repugnant, petty and a waste of valuable time and money, when there is a preponderance of more serious and critically pressing matters, taking a heavy toll on the well-being of our society, that need urgent attention. I have written on these kinds of situations about five times or more.
One so often gets the impression that some magistrates are wide awake in a dream, oblivious to everyday reality – totally lost! The letter in question tells of a Charlestown youth, a young woman sentenced to prison for two years, for being in possession of 4ozs of marijuana! No wonder the prison is overcrowded, silly decisions like this is the reason, as Bisessar rightly and with a sense of deep concern questions and reminds us: “What are we doing to our youths? What would happen to this young woman when she gets out of prison? She did not steal. She did not kill or wound someone, she was not selling cocaine.
She was selling something that so many people in this country use; from doctors to lawyers to bums. No pain and suffering is inflicted on the person, the family or society, as does alcohol which is consumed as if it is going out of style “Who is to maintain children when one is incarcerated? There is no programme when one leaves prison to ensure a stable life.
For quite some time now we have been witnessing some rather irrational, clumsy bizarre and definitely unjust sentencing meted out to the poor and powerless. I recall two brother, both fathers with families and unemployed, who decided to depart by backtrack to seek a livelihood elsewhere, they were caught and sentenced to prison, no thought about the children – all minors. Then there were three women, all single, who were caught with marijuana, they pleaded guilty and begged for mercy – all with children, one with three girls, ages between 8 and 13; they were fined 200, 300 and 500 thousand dollars and sentenced to 3 and 4 years jail.
Yet again, there was the teacher, with his three children, who was owed three months salary by the ministry, and continued teaching in addition to taking on two CXC classes. With rent to pay, the children to feed, he stole some kind of material that cost a pittance from the school; ended up in court, pleaded guilty and begged the magistrate for leniency. But his plea fell on deaf ears, and he was jailed; no consideration for the minors.
We read about a dance promoter who was hounded down by the GRA and taken to court, under pressure he took his life by jumping in the river. And what of that young woman who tried to reach Suriname by boat, was intercepted brought back, taken to court and sentenced to jail. Yet another “topsy turvy” piece of judgment:
A man and his wife travelling on a motor cycle in search of their son, when they discovered that he was missing, they were hit by a car resulting in the death of his wife, he himself suffered serious injuries and underwent surgery. Left as a single parent with an eight and one year old to take care of, he was charged for the death of his wife, taken to court and placed on a large sum of bail; which magistrate reduced to two hundred thousand dollars when he pleased his inability to pay the huge sum! And to think, he is an ordinary man who recently had to cover funeral expenses.
There are many more examples of such preposterous, callous, and unjust abuse of prerogative\authority. But like I always say, laws are not made to protect the poor and powerless. With the unbridled abomination that abounds, the lopsided disparity in privilege, protection, favour, wealth, injustice etc, between the upper and lower classes – everyday people will have to continue running twice as fast to remain in the same spot.
Many within the judiciary who are in position of authority\command (as has been displayed) lack compassion, and are antagonistic towards the have-nots, matters not that quite a number of them originated from the belly of the working class themselves. Unfeeling and stone cold, they fail to see the counterproductive and destructive impact these indiscretionable judgments have caused on so many homes, children, families and society. But what the hell do they care.
Frank Fyffe

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