Dear Editor,
BY now, it is very well established that the PPP/C will resort to any tactic or means to criticise the coalition government; even if it means employing foul means.

Editor, this is part of their strategy of “oppose, expose, and depose”, according to one of their former chief spokespersons. We have seen so many of these half-truths that they need not be mentioned here, since it delays what is to be said about this desperate opposition party’s continuous attempts to regain power, by any means.

Through one of its chief spokespersons Gail Teixeira, a call was recently made for what seems to be an urgent meeting of the Oversight Committee on Security, “to discuss…some of the concerns of the Guyanese people, including the concerns of the prison and public safety.”

Despite the destruction of the prison that provided a conduit for the escape of some dangerous inmates, it can safely be said that the authorities have managed to restore normality to the prison system, in terms of urgent construction being carried out at the Mazaruni penal end that is being expanded with a view to accommodating more inmates.
There are also urgent plans being assembled to usher in very long overdue prison reforms that will serve to neutralise what had occurred in 2017. Ms. Teixeira, I am sure, is aware of these and other measures.

I stand to be corrected when I say that, significantly, all the escapees except two have been re-captured. And this was done within a very short time of the break-out from Lusignan, especially. This was unlike the mayhem and terror caused by the now chronicled 2002 Camp Street prison break-out which heralded the most frightening reign of criminal terror ever recorded in the annals of this country’s social history.

Certainly, Ms. Teixeira cannot claim amnesia of any type in not being able to recall what that phase, which caused police stations to close their gates before twilight; robberies being committed with impunity; and policemen being targeted and shot down in the streets, in an era when crime and lawlessness ruled the land. And it all occurred during her party’s administration. So bad it was that a certain notorious drug lord advertised via a newspaper ad that he and his murder squad assisted the then government to combat crime.

It is a fact, that the gun is the weapon of use in the criminal landscape, and Ms. Teixeira should be reminded that such a use proliferated during the PPP/C’s destructive two-decade reign. In fact, the latter witnessed an introduction of every conceivable crime that once used to be confined to foreign climes. While one will agree that crime is still a cause for concern in Guyana, statistics will show where law enforcement has done a commendable job in the reduction of serious crimes, according to stats.

Gone are the times when citizens were made to cringe with fear in their homes, waiting for the inevitable. As a country, crime is being managed better than the unfortunate and sad situations in Jamaica and Trinidad. Our police force is much more pro-active; is aided by a more cooperative community spirit that had clearly dissipated during Ms. Teixeira’s party’s tenure in office, but now very much present, yielding very, very commendable results. There is not the hysteria, as Teixeira and clique are seeking to perpetuate.

Regards
Earl Hamilton