Soon after the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Hari Narayen ‘Ralph’ Ramkarran called for “a high degree of national unity in order to bring criminals to justice,” and after pointing out that poverty was one of the main root causes of crime, he was roundly contradicted by his colleagues in the People’s Progressive Party-Civic.

Addressing the 38th anniversary republic celebrations organised by the Guyanese-American Cultural Association of Central Florida in Orlando, Mr Ramkarran affirmed his belief that “national unity is indispensable to the resolution of our political and social problems including the plague of criminality which we now face…In all of this, we must not forget that it is the continuing existence of poverty which drives feelings of marginalization and insecurity. At the end of the day, it is poverty which is one of the main root causes of crime.”…..