Dear Editor,

Last Sunday morning, in broad daylight and in the wide open, two armed individuals carried out a daring robbery at the Bourda Market in plain sight of everyone who was shopping nearby, relieving the vendor of all of her cash and even her apron, and then calmly walking away in the direction of the Merriman Mall.All the while, the hapless vendors and shoppers were left speechless and motionless, as there was not a single constable in sight. Even when some of the vendors ran to the outpost and made an urgent report and appeal for help, their efforts were futile, as the two unarmed female constables on duty refused to budge, much less go after the perpetrators.

Is this the new dawn that Royston King is boasting that has come to our capital? Are these the fruits of his wonderful works? Each and every market is vulnerable because the constables quite laughably are now traffic policemen and women, they are now riding around aimlessly on bicycles, they are guarding the Independence Arch, they are performing bodyguard duty to Royston King and Hamilton Green, and guarding their residences etc.

Why are there no CCTV cameras at the markets? Of course we will hear that these are in the pipeline. But to add insult to injury, the Council has hired a private guard service for millions of dollars per month to protect places like the Merriman Mall and other inconsequential locations in the city, whilst the high-value targets are left unprotected.

Only in Guyana could such nonsense occur whilst the Council keeps patting itself on the back and saying ‘Well done, look how clean we are making the City’.
Sincerely,
MARK ROOPAN