GUYANA’s Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan is very correct in his ruling that there shall be no extension of the opening hours of bars and night clubs beyond the 2 a.m. curfew. What is really wrong with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to publicly appeal for a lifting of this curfew? Did they not do their homework into understanding the adverse impact of opening bars after 2 a.m.? This sort of mediocre advocacy has to improve.
The cost of alcohol-drinking to the world is immense and I am not talking about the cost of the bottle. I am speaking about the hospital bills, the bills to repair personal property and the permanent mental degradation in millions of people because of alcohol abuse. It is no different from Guyana. In countries like England, where these types of statistics are collected, the correlation between alcohol-drinking and crime is real. It is not a perception, no Sir.
Guyana is slowly moving to becoming the “drunk tank of the Caribbean” with all of its sociological disorders, so the minister’s call is in order. In England, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers, more than 50 percent of the criminals caught had alcohol in their systems. The Crime Survey for England and Wales clearly revealed that victims of wounding, robbery and assault were of the opinion that 47 percent of their criminal oppressors were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the criminal offence. For sexual assault, the Survey revealed that 40 percent of the victims believe their oppressor was under the influence. In the case of child abuse, 33 percent of the victims could have detected alcohol from the breath of the perpetrator of the crime.
Unfortunately, we do not collect these kinds of detailed statistics in Guyana, because of the abominable types of police investigation we conduct in Guyana and thus we can never know the extent of the adverse impact. It would be interesting to see the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana doing one of these surveys across the country to detect a perception of what people think of this alcohol-drinking after 2 a.m. No, I have not even addressed the issue of road safety. So to the minister, I say well done for staying the course on this curfew business – 2 a.m. is 2 a.m. And to the visitors expected to be in Guyana, they can all drink at home with their families after 2 a.m., but there is nothing stopping them from socialising publicly after 2 a.m. on coconut water and cane juice.
Regards
Sase Singh