Domestic violence, depression and corruption

Apr 22, 2018 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

This past week, yet another shocking killing greeted Guyanese who were on their way to work or at home. She was in her 20s. He was an abuser, the reports say. He was a poor provider to his Belmonte, Mahaica home. The two had recently separated, one of the many times, and he asked her to return for her children who were with him. For her, it was normal. The reputed husband, though, had deadly intentions.
He reportedly pulled her from the taxi she arrived in and stabbed her several times. He shortly after ingested poison and died the same day in the hospital.
Witnessing the shocking, cowardly deed were the two children of the couple.
From the reports, it appeared that the relatives and neighbours knew. During the separation, the children were left at home as the father could not afford to send them to school. More troubling for me was the fact that police had been receiving reports.
It is very clear to all and sundry that we have a serious problem on our hands as a country. If this is not a clarion call for urgent action, I don’t know what is.
The police stations, quite a few of them, now have special areas to deal with domestic violence cases. However, we need to continue dealing with the issue of training of our law enforcement persons.
We have community policing. We can use their personnel. Workshops, talks, home meetings.
In some countries, there is a system where social workers make sudden visits to homes that have been flagged.
We have so many ceremonial forums. Some groups are funded to deal with domestic violence. I don’t see a lot of them writing in the newspaper to raise the awareness. We hold a few marches. We host some nice speeches. And then we wait for the next dastardly act.
We have some troubled people in our midst. It is a fact. It is a fact also that few people seek help for their conditions. We have so few psychiatrists and there is a stigma attached to such treatments that will take some doing to remove.
People look at you strangely when you talk about seeing one. They conclude you are mad.
In the case of this young mom, the warning signs from years of abuse would have been present. She had to know that the husband was a violent man.
We can look at it in 20/20 vision or retrospect now and say that she should have stayed away.
For many women in abused homes, the biggest worry is where to find support. In many cases, her relatives are too old and too poor to take another burden. In many cases, the women in abused homes are not working, and have very little skills to handle jobs.
How does the administration handle these cases, especially as a crazed husband, unbalanced by jealousy and anger, does not tell when he is about to commit the ultimate act?
I saw one suggestion of placing special teams in each region to tackle domestic violence.
With our resources, or lack thereof, it may seem a tall order. However, we have been holding a number of inquiries into key incidents to find out what went wrong.
This scenario is clearly one where we must understand that we can afford no more to wait. We are losing too many of our people to the accidents, domestic violence and involvement in gangs.
CORRUPTION IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
On Friday last, the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) hosted a corruption march, under the theme ‘Corruption is Everybody’s Business’. It was boycotted by the Opposition, which says it cannot participate in an event hosted by SARA, which it opines is not going after the administration for corruption.
Unfortunate words indeed. The Opposition has to be more responsible. This should not be a partisan fight.
Despite a poor turnout, the words of the speakers provided sober reminders of how much we suffer by staying silent.
The British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, disclosed we are making strides.
However, David Robinson, of the United Nations arm that tackles corruption, made it clear that he has seen firsthand from his travels the ravages of corruption.
The person giving the bribe and the one accepting are all culpable.
However, it is the very act of reducing resources from state projects that should leave us angry.
We are a resource-rich country. We have not learnt how to convert that to really what we are potentially capable of. So it is that we have to be careful in spending what we have. The resources come from borrowing, overseas grants, and of course, revenues from our activities in Guyana.
Here is the problem. How many can complain of poor drainage, bad roads and police that can’t come to scenes because of no vehicles?
That is on the coastland. What about the hinterland?
When our new roads crumble after a few mornings do we wonder why? Or why it is that our hospitals don’t have drugs or a wide variety? It is because of corruption, the officials said Friday. It is therefore the business of everyone to fight it.
According to Quinn, corruption eats away the people’s trust in Government and stymies development. We know who the ones in office are. There is SARA and the police. They are saying that they want the people to start fighting corruption.
We know which neighbour is living above his means, not paying taxes, yet has several vehicles. We know which neighbour works at a government facility and is enjoying, illegally, the benefits.
The challenge for this administration is how to assure our people that they can fight corruption without being targeted. We know how information leaks. In every organization, including the police force, there is little respite. We have to start now to rein in the wastage. Like the folks said Friday, it is everybody’s business.

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