A NATION PETRIFIED

There have been many editorials written on crime, violence and murders in the country. But one cannot help but continue to write on these issues because almost every day there are headlines in the papers about murders, armed robberies and violence. The robbery at the Princess Ramada Hotel Casino clearly suggests that nowhere is safe in Guyana.
Also, it seems as though women are an endangered species in Guyana. The murders of the “maid of honor,” Simone Hackett by her ‘child father’ and a taxi driver is tragic, and Bagwanttie Persaud by her reputed husband at Rose Hall, Corentyne, are tragic reminders that women are not safe anywhere, not even in their homes.
However, most murderers are not really monsters, they are evil human beings. And that is the most frightening thing about them. Their gunplay has petrified society and the citizens, including the elderly who are glued to their homes at night, terror-stricken. Although the police are inclined to have the people believe that crime has declined, the population is in panic mode. There is no end in sight to this scourge.
Statistics show that murders, armed robberies and rapes increased substantially in the first three and a half months of the year with a distinct spike in gun violence throughout the country. However, police are apprehending the criminals faster now than before. Murder and armed robberies are disastrous, ruinous and profoundly lamentable. However low the number is, they are catastrophic and not acceptable or remotely comforting to the nation.
Every murder is the loss of a life, the most precious gift which, ironically, when senselessly taken is of no use to the murderer.
The fact that guns are entering the country illegally or are mysteriously eluding officials is very troubling. The government must be careful not to make the gun smugglers become confident by promoting the idea that this was always the case. It must act to stem the influx of high-powered weapons, especially AK 47s in the country and put an end to this lawlessness.
It is true that much of the murders and armed robberies are committed by youths who have refined the practice of boldness, ruthlessness and total disregard for life, limb and property. But it is also true that society with its aberrant behavior is a consequence of youth violence.
Studies have shown that poverty and illiteracy are the root causes of youths becoming hard corecriminals. In Proverbs 22:6, Solomon, indisputably the wisest man ever on earth said that we should “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Many believe that the state should urgently play a more remedial and proactive role in improving the behavior of youths and sharpen their minds to civility, propriety and humanity.
Fighting crime is not an easy task for any government. The Minister of Public Security has reportedly insulted Berbicians with an arrogance that suggests that he is in panic mode. To put it bluntly, he has to pull his socks up. He has to spearhead the fight against violent crime.
Truth be told, the public is disappointed with the Minister’s poor crime fighting techniques, but not the criminals who continue to ravage society with impunity.
One death is too many but if those in authority continue to keep their heads buried in the sand, the people are in for a long haul because the barbaric and immoral behaviour of criminals will not change anytime soon.