WE have awaken to the good news that the police have shot one bandit dead capturing others while some are still on the run. They have also recovered two high powered weapons used by the murderous marauding mob. We can now give a sigh of relief that progress is being made in the crime fight, that is, one less criminal and his guns that will ever again haunt our streets. We can sigh a relief that there is one less criminal and his arsenal to ever again torture our citizens.

While we applaud the police for a job well done others would not be so gratuitous in their praise rather they are going to castigate the force for killing the bandit. They are going to make statements like these “moh a dem dhey weh dem come out from,” or other asinine comments such as “they should have captured him alive and try him in a court of law.”
The first statement penned in creole was made to me by a prominent PNC supporter, during the height of the crime spree a few years ago and make no mistake readers, you would have heard these very same  murderous sentiments issuing from the same source mentioned. I know that people will make insensitive comments from time to time with no real motive behind it, but when statements like these are uttered from a party source it tells you clearly what their mission statement is. It tells you who these people are and what mettle they are made of. It’s clear they would like  to create a society of fear where business places are robbed, their owners shot and killed in the process; create a society where hardworking people are fearful that they would be the next victim of the bandit’s bullet. Even innocent civilians are besieged in their homes fearful of what the next gunshot would bring. This is what Guyana has become and what the criminal fraternity wants to make of it, a grief stricken, panic controlled country.
At this juncture, the activities of two notorious figures come to light- one a criminal lawyer and the other a former police commissioner. Both are members of the opposition who openly flaunt the law and nothing is done about it. Nigel Hughes is a lawyer of sorts who is closely associated and whose actions are intricately bound up with criminals. A cursory glance at the man shows him in many questionable associations the result of which many questionable decisions were taken all to the benefit of the criminal. Just to name a few, Hughes was present at the crime scene in Buxton and removed tapes from close circuit cameras and tampering with valuable information therefrom; his active involvement with felon Shaka Chase in the shooting to death of Corporal Cleito. In that case Hughes is guilty of hounding and badgering the eyewitnesses in the process bungling the evidence rendering the matter bereft of prosecution. Again the criminal walks free. In another high profile case, the Lusignan massacre, two known accused were freed thanks to the illegal conduct of this lawyer. He is known to have been in collusion with one of the jurors Vernon Griffith by name, him being a client of Hughes for no less than six years. It then begs the question why is this man still practising law in our courts? Why isn’t he disbarred?
In other jurisdictions like the USA he would have been serving jail time! We need not go far when one learns that Attorney Simmels is right now serving jail-time and given more years than his criminal compatriot Roger Khan. A lengthier term was issued him for doing the same things Hughes is guilty of here in Guyana. Simmels was found guilty for tampering with the witnesses. I therefore challenge the Attorney General to have this man thrown out of our courts never to practise law here again. He is not above the law hence he ought to abide by it or face the consequences.
Our country can ill afford to have criminals and their defence attorney acting in such reckless manner and get away with it. Certainly, it should not, and I hasten to say, must not be allowed to flourish here.
Another despicable individual is Winston Felix, one of, if not the worst police commissioner this country has ever seen, and he is still in the business of criminal mischief. This was very visible during his tenure as police chief as he hardly raised a finger where serious crimes were concerned. He supervised over the period when Guyana was at its worse, at the brink of becoming overrun by criminal elements while he sat in the Commissioner’s chair just taking up space. This man was so corrupt that he was known to have wined and dined with drug lord Roger Khan. The legacy of his actions during that crime- studded period can only be summed up as reprehensible. He is now in the opposition making statements like a “Sympathetic Judas” while casting blame at the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs who, by the way, is trying his level best to rid this country of the crime scourge. Felix and his associates should hang their heads in shame as to the horrible things Guyanese had to endure during his brutal reign.
I dare them to look deep into their souls – if ever they have one – and see if there be any moral fibre left.
Lest they be mistaken Guyanese will never forget those crime filled years. We will never forget. Down with these people!