‘Citizens are fed up, disgusted’

Apr 28, 2025 News

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—Glenn Lall says backdoor deals, injustices fueling civil unrest

Kaieteur News- Guyana is enduring an excruciating pain that, if not swiftly addressed, could see the country “burning inside out.”

This is according to Publisher of Kaieteur News and human rights activist, Glenn Lall. He said Guyana needs a justice system that delivers and leaders who will stop repeating failures and begin attacking root causes.

During his radio programme “the Glenn Lall Show,” Friday evening, Lall addressed the protest actions which erupted in Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo following the traumatic death of 11-year-old Adrianna Younge at the Double Day Hotel on April 24, and the shooting death of the two Linden youths by police, 21-year-old Ronaldo Peters and 32-year-old Keon Fogenay, on April 7 and 8 respectively.

The discovery of Younge’s remains in the hotel’s pool sparked a massive protest at Tuschen on Thursday. The exercise saw the burning of roads and tires, and the fiery destruction of the hotel and the home of the hotel owner.

Younge had visited the hotel with relatives on Wednesday, and was discovered missing around 14:00 hrs. Despite repeated appeals for police to conduct a thorough search of the premises, family members claimed their cries went unanswered. The GPF also later admitted to issuing an inaccurate statement which claimed that the child left the hotel in a red and black Toyota Raum the evening she went missing.

Relatives remained adamant that little Adrianna had not left the hotel as surveillance footage reviewed from a neighbour’s camera only showed her entering.

On the morning of April 8, the mining town of Linden descended into fiery chaos as well, after news of Peters’ death spread. Residents were livid over the death caused by a police officer, who they said, should have been protecting him. The police sergeant had claimed Peters was wanted for rape, and in an attempt to apprehend him, his firearm went off, causing the fatal shot. But surveillance footage showed the police officer running after the young father. Eyewitnesses said they also saw Peters being thrown into a bus and driven around before taken to the hospital.

It was during that protest action that Fogenay, a passerby, was shot in the eye by another police officer. Eyewitnesses stated that they saw the rank pull out his gun and fire it into the crowd where Fogenay was, killing him.

According to Lall, what unfolded in Tuschen, was not a random act, but the eruption of a long-simmering national crisis, finally giving voice to itself—”a deep, boiling, and dangerous pressure that’s been building beneath the surface of this land, far too long that is being completely ignored.”

“People are no longer just upset. They’re not simply angry. They are fed up. Disgusted. Exhausted and Frustrated. And yes, they are crying out, acting out, and bawling out for help. But no one in leadership is listening. Aside from being forced to live hand to mouth in one of the wealthiest countries on earth today, too much of injustices are flourishing all across Guyana,” he told listeners.

He said the deaths of Younge and the two young men in Linden should never become symbols of failure. He maintained they should have been protected. Lall said if the system was working in the way it should, they all may have been alive.

He said the situation in Linden and Tuschen are not isolated events. According to him, they are warning signs. “They are cries from a broken nation. I feel it. I see it. I hear it every day when I speak with ordinary Guyanese—there is no more joy, no more hope, no more trust. Because the very people who were supposed to protect us have become our biggest betrayers.”

The local activist said those who should be protecting and defending the people are the very ones breaking them down. He said When Guyanese look up to leaders for answers, all they receive are lies and cover-ups. “When you reach out for help, they turn their backs. When they should unite us, they divide us. When they should lift us, they trample on us. That has been the Guyanese reality under both the current and past governments.

“Let’s be honest, Guyana doesn’t need cosmetic fixes anymore. This country needs a restart. A full reset. We need leadership with honesty, compassion, and care. We need people who are not obsessed with photo ops smiling with the victims’ families, but solutions to fix the brokenness in our country.”

He continued, “how many more must die? How many more buildings must burn? How much more destruction must we witness before our leaders finally listen?

He said what was witnessed over the last three weeks was not just about the killings and corruption in the system, but also about the corruption one cannot see. “The backdoor deals, the land giveaways, the secret oil and gold arrangements. Those are the injustices that is fueling what we have all witnessed in Linden and Tuschen. When a people can’t breathe properly, they can’t think properly, when people can’t feed their families, how do you expect them to react, when people can’t buy a mattress to lay their heads when the night comes, how do they move forward in life. And that’s the trap the politicians have set for this nation.”

Lall said Guyana should be living its ‘golden age’ right now with first-class leadership, first-class justice, and first-class living along with a world-class police force. He said hospitals should be first class, and the courts swift,

“But what is the reality to get justice in this country today, you have to protest. And even then, you’re not sure if you’ll get it. So, what does that say about the nation, when the dead have to fight for justice…When families have to march in the streets just to get answers,” he stated.

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