THE main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) last Friday expressed concern at the rising rate of violent crimes, especially armed robbery, murder, suicide, rape, road and river deaths, piracy and other inter-personal violence. 

The Party’s disclosure came at its weekly press conference last Friday held at the Opposition Leader’s office, Hadfield Street.
“The Guyana Police Force occasionally releases partial statistics on violent crimes and the data published last week for the period January 1 to September 30, 2014 are incomplete but, nevertheless, point to a dangerous deterioration in the state of human safety” the Party noted.
APNU further lamented that President Donald Ramotar and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee have both been silent on the “current surge in violent crimes over the period (January-September 2014).”
As it relates to armed robberies, the Party referenced the Guyana Police Force (GPF) statistics which revealed that there had been an increase of 15 per cent in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a two per cent increase in armed robberies in which instruments other than firearms were used. The rate of ‘robbery under arms’ increased by 11 percent.
“Data for suicide are not usually made available. Former Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy had reported that approximately 180-200 people die as a result of suicide every year. Guyana, with 26.4 suicides per 100,000 people (2006), is said to have the fourth highest suicide rate in the world. In terms of homicide, 107 persons have been murdered compared to 100 for a similar period last year” APNU said.
According to the Party too, data for rape also are not usually made available. The US Department of State’s Report on Human Rights calculated that, during 2012, authorities charged 102 persons for rape. Of this, only 28 of these were convicted while 89 persons were charged with statutory rape and four were convicted.
Not made available also, are data for piracy attacks. The main opposition revealed that a Surinamese government official criticised Guyana’s response to piracy stating that, “Pirates come from Guyana and are deliberately targetting their countrymen who illegally fish in Suriname, knowing that they cannot turn for help to the Surinamese authorities.”
Decomposed bodies too, which would have occasionally been found on the river banks, suggest that victims had been killed and dumped overboard.
“Road fatalities resulting from accidents surged to 100 compared to 75 fatalities for a similar period in 2013” APNU said.
As a result, the party is of the belief that violent crimes are“sucking the oxygen out of economic development. Guyana is becoming an increasingly dangerous country.” The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Caribbean Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security Report2012 identified Guyana as a country affected by high levels of crime that is hindering development.
APNU is as such calling on political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations to demand that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration provide greater protection of citizens from violent crime. “The President and his Minister of Home Affairs must explain to the nation exactly how they intend to stop the surge in violent crime” APNU demanded.

(By Ravin Singh)