Dear Editor,
We woke up to the news that two policemen were caught accepting $400,000 in bribes to drop gun charges against a man found with an unlicensed firearm. In another newscast, we are apprised of two other cops being found in possession of cannabis with the sole intent to resell the prohibited substance. We are talking about two instances in recent times, where those who have sworn to uphold the law were caught in corrupt transactions, occurrences that do nothing else than to place policemen and the GPF in a very bad light. I say corrupt cops and persons of similar ilk will be wiped clean, they would be put in their rightful place, separate and far from the law-abiding majority of us.
Now, as a frequent visitor to Facebook, I expected every john public out there to rain down brutal punishments on the offenders, however, to my surprise and amazement the social media platform was inundated with a plethora of excuses for absolving the policemen from their crimes. From persons trying to absolve the Police of such crimes. There was this outpouring of sympathy for the lawbreakers. Now, I would like my readers to understand where these apologists stood, they were making these statements of apology from a political standpoint.
And so, it is with many issues in Guyana today, instead of taking a high moral or legal ground, decisions are based on the political backdrop. In their reasoning, the officers should be declared innocent because the salaries of the lawmen are low, therefore taking of bribes should be overlooked, utterly preposterous! If I should remotely consider that asininity as an excuse, then why not accept squatting based on the logic that Guyana is a country of 83,000 square miles so persons are entitled to go live anywhere, even on privately-owned land? The logic is you see land just take it!
Or should we accept the drug traffickers’ mantra, who will say we are just out to make a “decent” living? These are some of the foolish statements some folks in our society would like us to accept.
I have left this statement as my final point, that is, the politicians who will say that monies are coming in for projects under my watch, then why shouldn’t I be a party to it? This makes good reasoning for the base and corrupt in society and persons who would like us to wallow in that quagmire of corruption, but we will not! We will not accept such foolishness nor would we allow it to take root in this country again. I say gone are the days when such reasoning held sway, but now we are on a clean and progressive trajectory.
You govern a country based on the whims and fancies of the base and corrupt elements of society, and I say we are bound for the dung heap of history. At this stage of our development, Guyana will not, I repeat, will not countenance such corrupt practices. In my book, those who break the law must face the full penalty of the law.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
