THERE are two deviancies in Guyana that I have a hardened position on and I believe the punishment should be drastic.
One is violence against a police officer. Once society tolerates that, chaos ensues. A civilian should not be allowed to hit a police officer. The second one is a student or his/her parent hitting a school teacher. After expulsion, there should be prosecution.
Society is held together by discipline. The word “discipline” might be misleading. A better word should be “values.” Once a society refuses to recognise the priceless values that keep civilisation intact, then that country is heading towards the cul-de-sac of nihilism.
There are forms of lawlessness in Guyana that have crept up on us and they will destroy this nation. The first one that comes to mind is noise nuisance. This aberration affects all citizens and it is a cancer that must be exorcised. All Georgetowners have seen two depravities which have crept up on us.
The first one is vehicles fitted out with large speakers on the back seat and the decibels run into the hundreds, violating the law that stipulates the number of decibels a citizen or an entertainment place is allowed. When this ugliness started, it could have been nipped in the bud.
Now it has grown into a social sarcoma. That loud music has dangerous consequences. One is the driver cannot hear the siren from the police and the ambulance. Death is ensured when you are crossing a junction and the music prevents you from hearing the siren.
One does not mind if the driver that could not hear the siren is the one that is injured but just imagine the victim could be a presidential outrider. The second dangerous thing is what that loud music does to school driven studying and to old folks that are resting.
The loudness of music coming from those cars exceeds the reverberations from any music concert. It simply boggles the mind that a human in a vehicle could play music so loudly.
The third scourge about this social immorality is that the driver is scientifically incapable of detecting the sound of an impact. That driver could hit another vehicle or a pedestrian and not be aware. It is simply basic science. At the rate of the loudness of that music, the human cannot hear the impact.
There is still time to stop this uncivilised behaviour. Bring in legislation that allows for the speakers and the amplifiers to be seized on the first violation. Years ago, that policy was applied to mini-buses. There was no second chance. The traffic ranks removed the speakers without giving the driver a chance. That approach was abandoned years ago.
Anyone who read philosophy would know that humans respond to punishment and punishment becomes a deterrent. If the legislation empowers the police to remove the sets on the first violation, I am saying without hesitation that this form of noise nuisance will cease to exist within weeks. It will come to a complete halt.
The second form of noise nuisance I have lamented three times on this page before. Motorcycles owners have altered the exhaust system so that the engine makes excessive noise. It gives the driver a high and it is now out of control. Those motorcycles disturb the peace of every human living in Guyana. At the uncivilised hours of the morning those uncivilised drivers wake you up.
Think of people who have to get up at 06:00 hours to prepare their children’s lunches for school and 04:00 hours they are awakened by the nightmarish noise of these engines. So, it is a double whammy – engine noise and music loudness. It is a disaster that has crept up on Guyana. It has to come to an end. The legislature and the police have to act as soon as yesterday.
Finally, the act of indiscipline of private ownership of parapet. Every citizen of this country knows that schools and private business have multiplied beyond belief in this country. Every citizen knows that car sales have gone through the window.
This means parking has become a dire urgency. But here is what we have in Guyana. People have illegally tampered with their property transport so they own the parapets outside their homes. I give you two examples. One of the most patronised veterinary services is Dr Bassoodeo in Prashad Nagar. You cannot get any parking because all the surrounding neighbours have massive boulders on their parapets.
I buy my pet food at Toucan in Water Street Kingston. A business place, opposite Toucan has put cones on the parapet so no one can park there even though the business place has enormous space in its compound. This is called lawlessness.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.