IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been formally charged with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct on an employee at a hotel he recently stayed after having posted $1 million US cash bail and a $5 million US cash bond. He was also fitted with an electronic monitor and put on a 24-hour surveillance by police. Prior to this, Kahn spent four days in Riker’s Island prison on the said rape charge which prosecutors allege Kahn attempted to rape her  and being unsuccessful forced her to perform oral sex on him. At the time of his arrest he was the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) president conducting official business in the United States. He is a high-profile individual who is a potential candidate for president in next year’s general election in France. According to reports, Kahn is a loving husband and father, a highly regarded diplomat, politician, lawyer, political economist and professor with no criminal record. Then it boggles the mind how such a decorated, highly successful gentleman could have been held prisoner in a common jail merely on an allegation and worse yet on his pre-trial release set on house arrest. The fact of the matter, is that in the United States rape and offences of a similar nature, come under the category of serious crimes and irrespective of the individual justice has to take a particular course of action hence, the treatment meted out to this errant statesman. The fascinating speed in which justice was carried out sends a clear and strong message, that such behaviours will not be tolerated here.

Let us compare their justice system with ours and we readily see the great divide that exists.  It would be unthinkable that rape or any such action done to a woman or a man by such a high-ranking individual could be considered serious far less a crime. This is not even a consideration (at least in my lifetime) that an individual having such magnitude as the IMF President could ever be treated this way, no never, so let us put this matter aside please.
In Guyana today we have a scourge involving firearm or crimes dealing with the possession and use of a deadly weapon. This has been a source of worry for both the police and the populace at large for a long time now seeing crimes of this nature is very popular and have an almost daily success story when carried out by the bandit community. Now the justice system here is hazy, ambiguous and painfully slow when it comes to gun crimes; therefore many such acts go unpunished. Armed robbery is very commonplace and it seems that persons have resigned themselves to their fate. As we speak someone somewhere in Guyana is being viciously attacked and robbed of his or her hard-earned belongings and nothing seems to be done about it.
When you consider the entire scenario most if not all of these criminals are repeat offenders which tells me that something is drastically wrong with the justice system in Guyana and this is most distressing. It begins with the police who should first have a criminal charge made out against the felon. Secondly, he/she should be denied pre-trial liberty and this should be an automatic decision on the part of magistrates and judges for such persons. Further to it, these individuals should be put on a twenty-four hour surveillance once you are found in possession of or was party to a gun-related crime and of course, I am advocating speedy trials because the longer you have these cases lingering on the docket the greater the risk of justice being denied.

The point I am making is we here in Guyana should adopt the American approach, and take the bull by the horns if we are to make any headway on gun crimes. This scourge must be tackled head on if we are going to at least put a dent in this horrific crime spree.