Dear Editor,
The constant rise of crimes in our country is now a concern for all Guyanese citizens. The recent burning to death of two elderly couple, the brutal murder of a beautiful Afro-Guyanese girl and the shooting to death of a 26-year-old businessman just within a few days should be something our present administration should be worried about.
This gruesome list of heinous crimes in Guyana since the past and present administrations have now crippled our society with constant fears, it’s no wonder the lines at our immigration and passport office getting longer daily.
By just observing the people in the market and conversing with vendors tell the whole picture of the massive migration daily of our Guyanese people. I wonder in about five years if this nation will still be existing; a country with less than a million people is plagued by crimes daily, highest suicide rates, drugs, prostitution, blackouts, poor internet access, thousands of potholes on our roads, daily accidents by drunk driving and worst of all most of our people in our nation dying young most of whom barely reach the age of thirty.
Our country is plagued with high-profile murderers, these people don’t just rob people on the streets and in their homes they kill them. I wonder in my mind what kind of people will want to burn two elderly people in their homes alive after failing to robbing them.
I wonder who would want to snuff out the life of that beautiful Afro-Guyanese girl from Sophia and what kind of a robber would want to just shoot a 26-six-year-old man just married a month ago after taking away a bag of money from him.
Yet many of these criminals when caught will be given light sentences and can easily be freed if they hire some high-profile lawyers.
I would agree with former President Desmond Hoyte when he said: ‘’to hang them high.’’ I firmly believe the death penalty should be re-implemented in our courts to deal with these criminals once and for all, and the courts should not waste time and taxpayers money, these cases should be tried quickly and justice should be given to our crying citizens.
Our President should stop freeing criminals and thieves from prison; in law it’s a simple philosophy once you: ‘’Do the crime, you do the time.’’ The courts also need to introduce the Cat ‘o nine tail to give thieves and criminal some severe strokes when they enter prison and when they leave prison.
When more severe penalties are implemented the crime will cease. For criminals must face the firing squad or the electric chair.
Our leaders only talking about crimes but they have not implemented severe laws in Guyana to curb crimes; they have implemented severe Taxes, it’s quite the opposite.
The recent prison incident where 17 prisoners were killed all of whom were high profile criminals. The prison officers didn’t set them on fire, they set the prison on fire to escape but they eventually killed themselves.
What would have happened if they would have managed to burn down the prison and escape? Some of them escaped once on Mashramani Day 2002 and created havoc in the country. It’s not impossible for them to plan another escape.
If we can implement better laws to protect our citizens and better living and working conditions and give workers better wages and salaries they will not migrate, they will stay. It’s so sad that after 50 years of Independence we still haven’t reached one million people with over three million of our Guyanese people living abroad.
While we contemplate to celebrate the 50 years Independence we should reflect on those whose lives were snuffed out by the hands of criminal elements who are on the streets who will soon kill again; we should reflect on the grieving widows; we should reflect on the grieving children and grandchildren whose parents were burnt alive and the heart-broken father whose daughter was brutally killed just a few days before attending her sister’s wedding as a maid of honour.
People are no longer safe in their homes and businesses, that’s why they are leaving Guyana like sandflies daily. It’s about time our President get serious about this crime situation in Guyana and implement more serious laws. We should remove bail from thieves and criminals. VS Naipaul wrote a book called: ‘’An Area of Darkness’’ We have now become a nation of darkness plagued by criminal elements.
May God help us!
Yours truly,
Rev Gideon Cecil
