Incidences of violent crime are increasing, and law-abiding persons – across every divide, are wondering when this madness will end. This madness will end when political activists stop describing murderous criminals as ‘martyrs,’ calling them ‘heroes’ and ‘freedom-fighters,’ and even draping them with the flag of our country, thereby dishonouring our entire nation.

This madness will end when the young people of our nation – and even the older ones, are no longer encouraged to go on mad rampages in calls for “slow fiah! Mo’ fiah!” and to destroy lives and properties under one pretext or another, when the only true motive is to make the country ungovernable and to derail societal, entrepreneurial, and governmental systems in efforts to create anarchy in the land and force a structure that is orchestrated to benefit those who want to walk the corridors of power through the back door, because they cannot aspire to the legitimate entrances.

This madness will end when our security services are allowed the recognition for their bravery in the face of difficult and dangerous encounters that threaten – and sometimes take, their lives and the lives of innocent persons, instead of being called ‘murders’ and other vile names by criminal rights activists.

This madness will end when the average Guyanese recognize that criminals are criminals – with no loyalty to God, humanity, members of any race, religion, creed, or political party.  Their only intent is to get rich off the fruits of the endeavours, sacrifice, and hard work of others, regardless of the race, religion, or political affiliation of their victims.

Many victims of criminals once believed that the perpetrators of violent crimes are victims of a society that owes them a luxurious living and riches without any effort being made to accrue riches and to create their own wealth, and that society must pay – with lives if necessary, for their easy access to a desired lifestyle.

A dangerous catalyst for further destabilization in the social construct of this very vulnerable nation is the strident call being made for ‘reparation.’

What an indictment of the descendants of very proud, hardworking people, who elected to earn their way and establish a patrimony of pride and dignity.  Today, after demolishing the fruits of the struggle, hard work, and sacrifice of our ancestors, who refused to bow to oppressive dynamics, but who instead chose to carve their own destinies with their own efforts, the descendants of the forefathers of our nation are resorting to bullyism and terrorism, including criminality, to wrest lands and fortunes from those who have learnt to acquire, like our ancestors – both bondsmen and free, with hard work, sacrifice, and honest endeavour.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, the young boy from Buxton with his basket of mangoes or genips, the young lady with her bundle of broom, walking and selling from street to street – people who are products of broken homes who decided that they will live, survive, and endure off their own efforts.

These are the real heroes and heroines of humanity – those who transform their negatives into positives without crushing the rights and lives of others in the process.

This madness will end when the real villains and architects of the criminal network are exposed and punished, but today the chickens are coming home to roost, because many victims of the criminals once supported the notion that the latter are to be pitied and supported.

Criminals have choices, and the Government provides many avenues for choices to be made for self-empowerment, including a comprehensive education sector.  Society must not pay for the bad choices made by the evil forces in our midst, and we must support the law-enforcement bodies to weed them out.  It is only then that the ‘madness’ will end.