Social mess in Guyana will scare away the Guyanese diaspora

Dear Editor,
With the recent murders within the very first few days of 2016, the most heinous and monstrous being the terrorizing and murder of the mother at Plantation Hope, West Coast at the hands of bandits being the worst for just about anywhere on planet earth, and yet diaspora Guyanese are asked to regain faith in their country and return with their wealth and experience to help develop it.
When violence and murders are heard of this monstrous nature they send the biggest shockwave and chill down their spine and I have said it for years and will say it again—Diaspora Guyanese WILL NOT return under those conditions. And while they may be obliged to endure other difficulties like government bureaucracy, long lines, some corruption (all familiar to them at the time of their departure), they will not return to a land and place their lives and that of their children in jeopardy…they absolutely will not.
So our officials can beg and cajole until the cows come home but at the end of the day this is the most important and defining issue affecting Diaspora Guyanese from returning home.
What we are reaping is the result of years of essential democratic systems gone awry and allowed to fester and rot to the state they are now, where neglect and corruption became the norm, where mediocrity and nepotism became the de-facto order of the day and where the blind led the blind.
The recent murders should raise a plethora of questions that members of the public should demand answers and while a new Government can hardly be blamed for the current out-of–control state of crime and violence, they must understand the urgency and importance of their obligation to the Guyanese people to fix this mess.
We simply cannot continue at this rate. It is not sustainable and Guyana will fall into a deeper abyss. More innocent lives lost if systems are not put in place quickly to curb this current situation. Tough questions need to be asked such as—should we consider a return to capital punishment as in the Presidents Burnham’s and Hoyte’s era when crime was at record lows despite the reservations of ABC countries. Should we raise minimum drinking age-limits to 21? Should tougher enforcement on pubs and rum shops be considered to dissuade underage persons from imbibing alcohol?
Additionally as the Government announced plans to revamp the Guyana Police Force with the help of ABC countries (overdue for many decades), Guyanese must be curious to know where are we in terms of instituting a fully functional 911 system across the country which will be a tremendous crime fighting asset and will work in conjunction with a revamped police force.
Will Diaspora respond to the Presidents challenge? That question remains more difficult to answer if the current trends continue and the present regime is obligated to reassure Guyanese that they are not merely words but serious effort is being expended to resolve this crisis.
A. Persaud