“This is a dark time, my love”

By Sheba Thomas Youth For Change member “This is the dark time, my love; it is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears. It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery”. These words of one of our beloved poets, Martin Carter, seem immortal as they so aptly describe the current situation of our country. The first month of 2014 has come to an end and the second is half gone, with an ever-growing record of concerns and issues of robberies, murders, suicides and allegations against our police force. These issues reveal the true character of our present leaders and their inability to act and provide safety and security for the citizens of this country.

Sheba Thomas

One is left to wonder if Mr. Clement Rohee is waiting on a great epiphany before he can awaken from his self-imposed denial that under his tenure, crimes of all sorts and characterizations have multiplied both in frequency and intensity. His inability to assume control over the increase in criminal activity and daily complaints of gross misconduct by members of the Guyana Police Force, and his mind-boggling suggestions for solving the myriad of problems in that institution, clearly shows poor leadership Instead of reshuffling those perceived to be ineffective officers, for instance, perhaps the Minister should do some house cleaning and sweep out all the corrupt officials closest to him, starting from the top, and then he should follow the recent example of a fellow minister and resign for failure to fill his mandate. But then, what can one expect from a Minister who has acknowledged that he is no expert in the field he oversees. It is now up to his boss to hear the plea of his Home Affairs Minister and make the necessary changes. With the recent upsurge of crimes involving youths, one would think that the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport would be concerned about the welfare of young people, but his prolonged silence on such a matter proves his disinterest in this regard. Not once has he even uttered a word on the Colwyn Harding case or the murder of costume designer Trevor Rose. As a Guyanese youth, I would expect the said minster to pay keen interest in this matter. It is also shocking to me that with such an increase in violence among youths, that Minister has not even moved to collaborate with the Guyana Police Force to establish a programme to combat this issue, or even one that seeks to identify the varying reasons for the increase of aggression in youths that leads to violence. Even with the alarming increase of youth suicide from last December to now, nothing was said, no investigation carried out as why youths would make this ultimate decision; take this fatal action. What about the Minister of Health? Not even he has addressed the increasing suicide rate in Guyana and established a programme to combat this. Perhaps the citizens of Guyana have had enough with the depressing state of their country. Many youths see no future here, many have lost hope that Guyana can change. So who should be held accountable for the oppression and destruction of Guyana? The very people we elect to govern our affairs. They are the ones who are watching us not being able to achieve our dreams because of their ineptitude. Those are the real criminals we should be afraid of. The ones in suit and tie, who look into your face and pretend to be a hero, when in actuality they have robbed us blindly. They are the ones who took an oath to protect the people of this country and instead took merciless advantage and left us with nothing but distress. To overcome this, Guyanese will have to plunge themselves into massive rebuilding of morals and ethics, nationalism and sound politics. Why not let us all say a prayer for Guyana and hope that when we awaken our country will once again be beautiful.