Dear Editor,

OUR young people today in Guyana are rapidly sliding down the proverbial slippery slope into immorality and criminality.

As I watch the news and read the papers, I note with a great deal of interest that most of our young people are involved in some very serious gun crimes. Most of these young people are Afro-Guyanese; most are from broken homes and single-parent backgrounds, and many have no fixed place of abode.

A survey conducted at our prisons has shown that more than 60% of our prisoners are illiterate or are functionally illiterate, and more than 75% are very young offenders, including males and females who are involved in heinous crimes. These young people are trying to get rich quick by robbing innocent citizens daily, and the drug trade is growing like a tree perpetually planted among the young and old.

Even old ladies in their 70s and 80s are pushing drugs, thus drugs are destroying the youths in our communities, and motivating them to commit crimes to get money to fuel their drug cravings. We have bicycle and motorbike snatchers in the city of Georgetown; pickpockets, choke-and-rob and gun-carrying bandits all over Guyana as well.

The robbery of more than $20 million of the Cambio dealer in Berbice gives us much to think of. And a former police officer was involved, according to the news. The big guns they were carrying –- AK-47s — give us much to think about in regard to where and how these weapons of mass destruction were acquired. And if they are not caught, they will create a wild rampage of more crimes in this country.

Most police officers don’t carry a gun; and those at the stations, who are always too busy to come when a crime has been committed, are unable to deal with these hardcore criminals who carry weapons of mass destruction.

I am yet to hear the voices of the Minister of Public Security, our President, and all those foreign dignitaries, particularly those representing the USA, Canada and Britain — since they happen to be the brains behind the APNU/AFC Coalition Government’s strategy to tackle this crime situation. It is my firm opinion that these big criminals have many masterminds or intellectual authors planning these crimes, and more is yet to come if this AK-47 gang is not dealt with expeditiously.

If that Cambio dealer who was robbed had a big gun, he would have been able to defend himself; but now the rich citizens have no guns, but the criminals have the guns, and these hardcore criminals have rights in the courts, because they know they would easily be bailed, so that they can go and rob people again.

Getting rich quick has been a way of life for many young people, both male and female, who have embraced a life of crime in Guyana. The crime is here to stay, because this government has too many lenient laws. Those criminals who killed innocent citizens must be given the death sentence, as well as those who murder people. If this APNU/AFC Government should enforce tougher laws, crime will be eradicated. I am speaking about laws like cutting off the right hands of criminals.

We must remember and honour Mr. Desmond Hoyte for saying we should hang those criminals high. If we don’t get rid of criminals, they will get rid of us as a nation. They might even take over this nation by a military invasion, judging from the military guns they use to rob and kill people.

Crime is also a moral problem which stems from poor family values. What we have here in Guyana is too much “live home” and “shack-up” lifestyle, where so many women have six to 12 children for different children fathers, and these kids grow up needy but illiterate, so they become the criminals of tomorrow. If our young people have parental guidance and a good home and education, they will not turn to drugs and crime. Even when thieves are released from prison, they go out and do bigger crimes because they have no place of abode. Many prisoners have told me that they prefer to stay in prison. We need to build schools and churches in our prison compounds to educate these prisoners; even get teachers to teach them CXC, so they can have a better future. We need a prison reform programme and better living conditions for prisoners.

Drugs and crime have now become a global phenomenon, not only in Guyana but all over the world; and we must not be fooled to think that in America there is no crime. Many of these criminals here are deportees from America; they learn about these crimes in the USA. We must as a nation act now to get rid of crime, or all our business people will leave Guyana very soon. Many have left already. We must work hard to get what we want, not push drugs. We must have more programmes for our youths, because today’s youths will be tomorrow’s leaders.

The Bible informs us: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”(Genesis 3:19). It’s in God’s plan for people to work hard. I call on the young and old to work for their daily bread, and don’t live a life of crime to get rich quick.

Regards,
REV. GIDEON CECIL