A nine-year-old child was sneered at by stray animal catchers and arrested by Police as if he was a stray animal and a common criminal at the same time. This is an ugly example of CHILD ABUSE. I am grateful for the MPs from the People’s Progressive Party for taking action to highlight this sordid example of child abuse in our country. At the same time, I am perplexed because of the silence from authorities. This is another example of APNU/AFC abdicating its responsibilities to protect and promote the rights and dignity of all citizens, not just some.
Like in every country, we have political differences. But there comes a time when we must put country first. America is facing such a crisis today and many Republicans have found it necessary to abandon their presidential candidate and vote for the Democratic Party candidate because they are putting their country first, above their political party. When a country begins to descend into dark places, it is time for good people to get together and act in the interest of their country. Under APNU/AFC, Guyana is rapidly descending into a dark corner and we need to shed light now before it is too late. None of us good Guyanese want a repeat of the authoritarian rule we experienced between 1964 and 1992.
This ugly episode occurred a couple of weeks ago when a nine-year-old boy was arrested jointly by the Police and the stray animal catchers at Albion. The boy was treated like a criminal and worst yet as an animal. In a country where we have made tremendous progress in confronting rights of children, child abuse and even animal abuse, it is unfathomable that Police Officers who rarely show up to respond to criminals terrorising people in communities like Albion. It is an abomination that a child could be treated as if he was an animal and Police could arrest him as a criminal.
Guyana has certainly made much progress in combating child abuse. The Child Protection Agency and the Children Rights Commission were institutional arrangements to support efforts to stop child abuse and to stamp it out. I will not attempt to present a laundry list of things that were done and accomplished in the last 20 years. But the People’s Progressive Party Government made children a priority and under the PPP regime tangible progress was made.
But child abuse is still a big problem in Guyana and this one demonstrates that Guyana is moving back into a dark place, a place we have worked assiduously in the last two decades to come out from. The APNU/AFC Minister with responsibility for Children (Minister of Human Services) was a very vocal proponent for even more actions to be taken when she was the Opposition shadow minister. Now Ms Lawrence is in charge and she has become less of an advocate for the rights of children. I note her total silence on the matter of a nine-year-old boy being treated as a stray animal and being arrested like a common criminal.
I have not seen any concern being expressed neither by the Child Protection Agency nor the Rights of the Child Commission. I have not heard a word from the Minister of Public Security or the Attorney General. The Prime Minister is more concerned about travelling abroad and the President seems oblivious of these matters. I am yet to hear any indignation from various NGOs and commentators who normally jump on matters like these that affect the human rights and dignity of citizens. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the child is from Albion on the Corentyne which was solidly and more so today a stronghold of the PPP?
There are other worrying examples of child abuse in our country that fail to jolt authorities from acting. A nine-year-old arrested like a common criminal and sneered at like a stray animal is an act that must be a lightning bolt to mobilise citizens in rebuking authorities. When even one of our children is demeaned in this way, it is a very dark place for our country to enter and an even darker place if we cannot unite to shed a light and stop this confounded nonsense from ever repeating itself. I remembered the many times, as teenagers when I and many of our friends were hauled away by the Police and locked up for political reasons. The laws and political consciousness were not there to protect us, but they are there today to stamp out abuse of children, whether it is from individuals or State agencies. Let us shed a light into dark corners now emerging in our beautiful country. (Send comments to [email protected])
