Wrong Approach!

Aug 23, 2020 Features / Columnists, News, The Story within the Story

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The Story Within The Story…

By Leonard Gildarie

The news remain grim. I was targeting the end of September for the number of COVID-19 cases to reach 1,000.
Based on the current trajectory, it may be way before. As we speak, the count in the last week alone is nine deaths. That is nine out of a total of 31 deaths.
There is a raging pandemic that has engulfed the world and I am fearful for Guyana.
It will be our single biggest challenge we have to confront head on.
It will not be easy and take billions of dollars to overcome. It has wiped out our trade gains and shut hundreds of businesses down.
At this time, it is nigh impossible to project when it will be over. I see talks of phased openings and I laugh. They know not what they say.
Our biggest problem continues to be our attitudinal resistance to what is right before our eyes.
I am not sure what else to say to our people about how irresponsible we are as a people.
I agree that we are generally a laid-back people who love to mingle and visit family and friends.
The countryside, especially, has been cavalier in the approach despite the warnings. It appears that many took it upon themselves to translate the warnings by authorities to mean the avoidance of visiting Georgetown.
I was at Rose Hall Market, Berbice last week and saw a municipal policeman barrelling down on a few vendors who had no masks. They indeed had them, but not wearing.
The majority wearing them did so half heartedly, with the masks barely covering their mouths. It is the same across the country.
We have taken the wrong approach. It should be regulations for all to wear a mask when you are out in public, whether by yourself or not. Drastic, is it? No…we do have a population to protect.
I saw the videos of police raiding bars where people were drinking.
Perhaps none was more graphic when the Region Three police commander marched into a bar at Crane, West Coast Demerara and told the stunned patrons sitting not to leave. There were cars in front and police recorded them.
On the East Coast, similar cases were recorded.
I am aghast that we so badly wanted a drink that it would not suffice for us to buy and go home?
The body count is piling up and it appears that age is just a number. I wish I could be a little softer in my language.
Guyanese would find it hard to believe that while we have closed our borders, there are groups who are actively working to break the laws.
Kaieteur Radio reported Friday that nine Cubans along with a conductor and driver were intercepted at the Berbice Bridge checkpoint that evening.
A city minibus was stopped and detained while the COVID-19 taskforce in Region 6 arrived to screen and quarantine the Cuban nationals and the two Guyanese. The group reportedly arrived through the Number 79 Village entry/exit point and were heading to Georgetown.
It was also reported that two other Cubans were also caught just as they arrived at the Number 63 beach with their luggage. They were taken to the Springlands Police Station.
Berbice police have an uphill task monitoring several illegal entry points into Region 6. Those points include Scottsburg beach, Numbers 61-65 beach area, Rose Hall, Nigg or Fyrish Koker.
This followed confirmation that just a few days ago, five Cubans tested positive for the Coronavirus out of the 7 cases in Region Six.
The other news that came to the attention of the people was the arrival of the police at the home of Christopher Jones three nights ago.
The police claimed he had state property. Jones and his attorneys insisted it was a grant for a barbershop. The equipment at his house came from a grant for which he was approved.
We are not here for that.
The issue was with the police. Did they arrive with a warrant? I like the rule of law. The law should work or be perceived to work.
The police knew that the equipment was there. What was the compelling reason to want to rush and not have a warrant?
I don’t have to agree with Chris Jones and his politics or his divisive role in the recent elections.
What I would stand with him and all Guyana with is the protection of his rights. I hate to think what his young children were thinking.
The rule of law must be paramount in Guyana.
The abuse of the court systems in the last few months has the people of this country rethinking.
The videos of police ranks in the Ashmin’s building ordering GECOM officials and commissioners and others to leave has left bitter tastes with us.
When the police can flout a court order so easily in the glare of social media cameras and think it is okay, it should sound a warning bell for all Guyana.
It can happen to me and it can happen to you.
It can create a way of thinking for the police and even politicians that rules don’t apply to them.
There is a message here, folks.
There are Guyanese, as evidenced from the last few months, who will not sit idly by and see lawlessness.
We have voices. We have pens. We have social media.
The messages will be clear.
The police top brass must make statements.
Admitting we messed up can only cause us to improve.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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