Dear Editor,
The crime situation in Guyana is out of control, everyone is aware of this except the Government of this country. They do not, and from all appearances, will not accept their failure to deal with it. For a small country like ours – population wise – the activities of criminals to have reached this high is reason to be alarmed, if not worried sick. To top it off, the Government is blaming the Opposition for the crime spree. With guns blazing, they have come out castigating the Opposition for the root cause for the escalation in crime. They keep going back into the past digging up questionable episodes of criminal activity that they claim were deliberate acts of the PPP/C Government while they were in power. But if I were the Government I would not be so quick to point an accusing figure, I would be very, if not, extra careful to make certain statements. If we should take their word for it that the PPP/C Government were the culprits then, a couple of questions for the Granger-led Coalition.
Which party, when in power, draped the coffin of a “known criminal”? Could I get a sensible answer to that question?
The crime spree the Government is talking about, who are the initiators and masterminds behind all of it? Let us go into the historical facts, not fiction. In the first place, how did maximum security criminals get out of prison? Who let the “Freedom Fighters” loose? Yes, that was one of the terms of endearment given to them when on the rampage. Further, whose supporters were chanting “we get another one” when a Policeman was killed? Whose supporters openly said “they can’t ketch Fineman”? And when he was finally killed for his crimes, that Commissioner of Police was the most hated, hounded for all he was worth and harassed unto his death. In fact, all the Police Commissioners who were tough on crime and who they claimed were closely aligned to the PPP/C Government were negatively spoken of. This emboldened the criminals of the day giving crime that catalyst power it needed. Police Commissioners Laurie Lewis, Floyd McDonald and Henry Greene, all were placed in their black books. So, even selectively quoting history as they would have it, the Granger Government falls woefully short of being credible.
What is even more glaringly obvious is the fact that guns from the weaponry were stolen twice and most of which cannot be accounted for. A place that should be considered the safest place in Guyana was supposedly broken into not once, but twice. Even before that, in the Ministry of National Mobilization Era, a lot of weaponry was known to have mysteriously disappeared. Where did all that weaponry go?
Let us race ahead to 2015 and the high profile “political murder” of Crum Ewing, whom did the present government blamed for his death? Why is that matter so cold? What happened to that case, can anyone tell us? The murder of such a high profile personality should have necessitated an immediate response from the party that was so aggrieved, or were they?
Crime is a bugbear, and it is everybody’s problem, so then let’s deal with it. Stop blaming the Opposition for your problem. Persons are terrified with what’s going on and are worried sick as to the Government’s plans to control it. The People of this country want to know what are your plans, the Granger Government’s plans – your plans, to deal with the situation?
Sincerely,
Neil Adams
