Tales of a gifted gold band, the screams of a dying woman and a shootout between police and a bandit

Jan 29, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

A few weeks ago, Guyanese woke to the news that a former minister of Government was gifted a half million dollar gold band. The former minister’s denial of the acceptance of the gift landed him in pickle. The incident made headlines. Social media did not skip a beat on it. The minister is now before the court.
But it looks like there is more to come like the asphalt plant, house furnishings, the 20K passports and the barber chairs issues.
No doubt about it, wrongdoings during the reign of the APNU+AFC runs deep resulting in the nation being badly wounded.
While the juicy gold band matter was attracting the attention of the public, news broke that a young lady had died tragically because she was trapped in a room of a house that was engulfed in flames of a fire that destroyed the building. Curious onlookers said they heard screams coming from the house then silence. Later, they witnessed firefighters removing the burnt remains of the girl’s body from a window of the house.
Then there was a recent incident, not dissimilar from the ordeal of the three-bullet survivor at Barbie Dam. A female guard nearly ended up ‘dead or badly wounded’ because of what she described as the “zloop” from an intended cutlass wound. A stark reminder that there are more ways to be dead than to be alive. It also reminds us that life is not only precious but that we must pay attention to that “strange feeling” to which the female guard “did not pay it much mind.”
The attention of the public was then turned to an incident where a bandit who was wanted by the police for a series of armed robberies attempted to escape from a police patrol by shooting at the police. The ranks returned fire but the bandit managed to escape. He was later captured at a hospital where he went to receive treatment for gunshot wounds. According to reports, he was taken there by persons who could face charges contrary to Section 151 of the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act Ch. 8:02 concerning the harbouring of a wanted fugitive.
It is not surprising that these three human interest reports, coming one after the other, would attract the attention of the public. Nor was it surprising that the media would headline them. In the case of the gifted gold band, Guyanese have an amazing sense of curiosity and elephant-like memory when it comes to scandals in which ministers of government are involved.
We are reminded that it was former President Granger who, in justifying the humongous increase in salaries to his ministers claimed it was done “…to discourage corrupt practices … for a stronger cabinet allowing ministers to fulfill their functions and to manage Guyana properly.”
Ironically, while Granger was waxing lyrical about his ‘virtuous’ ministers, his ministers in turn wasted no time exploiting their positions of privilege for personal gain.
Fires are common occurrences in Guyana. Following investigations by ranks of the Guyana Fire Service, the cause of fires vary from carelessness and electrical to arson.
Fires are of human interest because of their destructive nature and in many instances, a cause of death.
Shooting incidents between law men and citizens who break the law, refuse to surrender and return fire in a bid to escape are of great interest to the public because such violent encounters can result in the loss of life of either a police rank or an offender.
Guyanese should fasten their safety belts; it looks like there is more turbulence ahead.
In the circumstances, the way in which Amanda Gorman, the young Black American poet put it, her words seem quite relevant in a Guyanese context: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, ‘where can we find light in this never ending shade, the loss we carry, a sea we must wade?”

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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Tales of a gifted gold band, the screams of a dying woman and a shootout between police and a bandit

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