It would not be hyperbolic to state that over the last two weeks, most Guyanese feel their country is under siege from emboldened criminal elements. It started with the invasion by armed bandits into the grilled home of an elderly rice farming couple; the Munirs, of Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo. Huddled in their second line of defence, their grilled bedroom, they were not spared by the thwarted bandits who descended into animalistic fury when they doused the home with gasoline and burnt the couple to death. Thousands of rice farmers across Guyana who also deal with large quantities of cash at harvest time, trembled in fear in empathy with the couple.
Across in Georgetown, another Essequibian, Mahendra Persaud, travelled to purchase stocks for his family’s store in Wakenaam. He was trailed by bandits on an infamous CG and as he exited from a store he was accosted by one of the bandits who grabbed his bag. When he resisted, he was shot and for good measure, run over by another accomplice in a car. He died and thousands of rural businessmen who have to visit Georgetown for similar purposes, trembled in fear in empathy with the young businessman.
Last Thursday night, four armed bandits invaded the Alesie Rice Mill at Ruimzigt on the West Coast of Demerara, owned by one of the largest millers and exporters of rice in Guyana. They pistol-whipped the guard, torched their way into the safe and escaped with million. Millers across Guyana trembled in fear in empathy with Mr Doerga. This weekend, an armed invasion in the Corentyne was launched against five individuals plucking chicken painstakingly reared over the past months for market. They were robbed of million and a quantity of jewels while one person was shot. Thousands of poultry farmers across Guyana trembled in fear in empathy with Vanisha Srikissoon and her workers.
But the most brazen and chilling criminal action was the invasion by four armed men in the wee hours of Friday morning of the Ramada Princess Casino at Providence, East Bank Demerara, just hundreds of yards from the Providence Police Station. While Police responded to the criminal assault, three of the bandits escaped while the fourth was captured through his own ineptitude. In several of the above-mentioned crimes of armed robbery, affected persons complained bitterly about the ineffectual Police response that did not include roadblocks. In the case of the Ramada assault, on December 4, 2014, the Providence Police had a dry run when Sterling Products suffered an identical armed invasion. Corporate Guyana trembled in fear in empathy with the owners of Ramada.
As benumbed citizens grope for answers, they are faced with what they consider to be a very anomalous response by a Government that came into office on a strong law and order platform. The presence of Brigadier David Granger as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Disciplined Forces advised by a Navy Commodore (rtd), a Major General (rtd), a Commissioner of Police (rtd) and several other senior members of the Disciplined Forces, had led those citizens to expect the law and order promises would be kept.
But what they see is a Government evidently consumed by the Jubilee Bash to commemorate the 50th Independence Anniversary. In fact, when asked by the Berbice Chambers of Commerce to visit and listen to their concerns on crime, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan replied he was “too busy with Jubilee preparations”. This is by any account a most callous response to citizens, only matched by the Agriculture Minister’s refusal to meet with the 1700 sugar workers of Wales Estate, affected by the closure of the factory.
One irony in the focus on “independence celebrations” at the expense of pressing challenges faced by citizens is the question, “what independence”? The other is the crime upsurge, especially the Ramada invasion, will deter most of the expected international visitors for the jubilee celebrations.
