PRESIDENT Ramotar assures: “What is of note is that we do not have migration because of political persecution and political violation of people’s human rights; those are the things that are most important for me.”

Yes, Mr. President, we all know it is not political persecution and political violation of people’s human rights that are driving people away. But, Mr. President, you hire people who violate people’s human rights: Police and army and those you employ in your government-run institutions. You, Mr. President, employ them to give them power and authority above the ordinary citizen.

Then there are those who stop decent people on the streets to lock off their necks (the choke-and-rob gangs). A handful of those make it to the courts; and when they get to the courts, victims are violated again with the so-called sentencing guidelines.

You hire traffic police who, in turn, stop motorists on the streets for no violation, just to shake them down for a bribe; and if they do not pay, they are told to drive to the police station, after which their day is over. You guys know the rest.

Then you have some honest police, doing their jobs of arresting criminals, but your Director of Public Prosecutions makes some decisions that, to me, defy logic or reason. You have the criminal lawyers making rings around these prosecutors, with known killers walking free to roam amongst society and kill again.

Mr. President, you even have political lawyers who hold political offices and take on private court cases, and that must stop or else people will see more of Agricola Public Road atrocities and more well-known killers beating the judicial system because of the jury system.

You have political lawyers taking on private cases, and that should not be, because they can incite crowds to commit atrocities when they lose court cases. One cannot walk the streets freely because one is not safe from home invaders in one’s own home. You are not safe from business invaders in your place of business. You cannot get justice in the courts, because of flawed judicial systems.

Mr. President, the people cannot heat up their lunches in microwaves, like others do; they cannot press out their clothes, like others do; they sleep in the dark, not knowing when they would be the next victim of bandits, because they cannot afford a light on at nights.

Mr. President, check what the average citizen takes home in pay in relation to the amenities’ bills they pay in over-priced services. So, Mr. President, do not wonder why the people are leaving for the US and other countries. You cannot conduct your business in Government-run institutions without being asked to pay a bribe.

You have citizens paying taxes only to witness their tax dollars being pumped into neighbourhoods that demand everything under the sun. These people destroy public and private infrastructure, and also use taxes to pay their electricity bills.

Mr. President, when the average Guyanese receive proper security and services, and the cost of public utilities becomes affordable, then migration will phase out.

TED KING