It’s time to return civility to Guyana

Jan 03, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
One of the failures of the Coalition Government has been the continuation of the lawlessness that flourished during the Jagdeo/PPP years, of law enforcement condoning alcohol abuse and noise nuisance.
My personal experience as a victim of noise nuisance is that the police make no arrests, even in the face of very intoxicated, disorderly, and threatening perpetrators. The police would warn the perps and leave.
The drunks would continue with the noise at higher decibels. It is like the police catch a rapist in the act, make no arrest, warn the rapist, leave the victim with the attacker, and when the cops leave the rape continues.
To make my case, I am going to share my experience of 1st Jan 2018.
I got home at 5:30pm after a fishing trip and my one of my neighbours were indulging in rum-drinking and making noise.
The more they drank the more they got drunk and the louder they amplified the music/noise. By 7:15pm, I came down with a headache and could no longer bear the shockwaves pounding my head.
I called the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station and made a report.
Between 7:20pm and 9:30pm, I called the station 7 times but only got through on 3 occasions. I visited the station twice. I also called two senior police officers.
When the police patrol came, they found one neighbour to be very intoxicated, disorderly, and threatening. He had to be restrained by 3 female family members. The police warned the perp rather than arrest him. When the police left, the noise continued.
The police returned. The noise stopped. The offender locked his gate and refused to speak with the police. The cops said that they could not enter the premises and left.
That was clearly a case of non-enforcement of the law and I have experienced it five times in the last two years, so I would say it seems to be the ‘policy’ of the Police Force. Such a ‘policy’ came about during the 23-year reign of the PPP, and it was aimed at making some of its supporters feel empowered.
They could do as they pleased, and the police would not charge them. This was in exchange for them (supporters) turning a blind eye to the corruption and depravities of some in the PPP leadership.
Such an attitude helped birth the ‘rum till I die’ culture. Such a culture has been very detrimental to a large segment of the Guyanese population. It had led to an epidemic of alcohol abuse, domestic violence, noise nuisance, cutlass violence, murder, suicide, drunk driving, vehicular accidents and deaths.
It is high time the APNU/AFC Government reverses this scourge. Enforcing the law would lead to a reduction in so many ills. It’s time to return civility to Guyana.
Malcolm Harripaul

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