Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to Dr Mark Devonish’s letters regarding the crime problem.
First, I must say I am sorry to learn that Dr Devonish’s family and friends went into crime, and so I understand that he is hurting. However, it does not give him the right to instigate armed robberies by glorifying the poor values of the Jamaican reggae artist Bounty Killer: Look into my eyes (lyrics), and also by justifying why poor people who are gifted with AK-47s use these weapons to rob.
Guyanese must understand that these are precisely the kinds of values that drive the crime problem. Editor, I must point out that AK-47s should never ever be given as gifts. As such, if any Guyanese is an unauthorised holder of an AK-47, then please immediately turn your weapon over to the Police; that is the right thing to do.
Dr Devonish is a medical doctor, and those from the medical profession are expected to protect people, not hurt them; but Dr Devonish is out to hurt Guyanese. I am shocked by the insane values of this doctor. And, of course, Dr Devonish can’t be in a position to diagnose the crime problem and provide solutions.
Further, Dr Devonish would like Guyanese to subscribe to the dogma that criminals are impoverished and are also desperate members of society who feel used in some way. So, because of this, should criminals be allowed to engage in armed robberies? This is dead wrong.
Dr Devonish must also know that under no circumstance is armed robbery morally or legally right, no matter if you feel used. I personally feel used by many, but does this give me the right to hurt another human being? No way!
In fact, criminals are largely not impoverished. And, of course, Dr Devonish buries such a fact so as to champion his dysfunction.
Editor, we all know that criminals show up at our homes in expensive cars and on expensive motorcycles, dressed in name brand outfits like Nike and Adidas, toting guns and expensive gadgets to rob, rape, and murder. Editor, the poor can’t afford motor cars and motorcycles etcetera, but criminals do. Further, even members of the GPF and the GDF and various professionals participate in armed robberies. Moreover, even some of our college graduates holding prestigious jobs participate in armed robberies. How can Guyanese forget the infamous armed robbery of the Republic Bank Limited by a highly qualified college graduate? Therefore, criminals can hardly be classified as impoverished. In fact, criminals rob the poor and traumatise them.
So criminals are simply lawless bullies who are unfortunately influenced by bad moral values championed by folks like Dr Devonish and by politicians looking for votes.
Further, the Guyanese people also observe how thousands of dirt poor and starving sugar workers, who are also unemployed, admirably steer themselves away from crime because of their values. They work hard like Nakisha Best, an unemployed sugar worker who now provides laundry services for 1,000 per day just to survive.
So, Dr Devonish, the reality on the ground violates the dogma that poverty drives crime.
Dr Devonish also wants Guyanese to believe that income inequality drives the murderous armed robbery problem. I disagree. In fact, crime drives income inequality and poverty. This can be logically explained: If it were not for the crime problem, lots of businesses would open up here. But because of crime, Guyana attracts very few businesses; and those that come here can’t survive, and they are forced to leave because they are repeatedly robbed and vandalised, and their workers hospitalised or murdered.
Just recently, Guyanese saw how the owner of the Real Value Supermarket was brutally beaten and robbed, and how a hard working cheese vendor was gunned down for his own sweat by violent criminals. Under those circumstances, business can’t survive, and as such wealth can’t trickle to the poor through economic activity. So, Dr Devonish, in large part crime effectively drives income inequality and poverty. This is a major reason why Guyana remains poor.
Sincerely,
Annie Baliram
