Dear Editor,

I wish to respond to comments made by home affairs minister, Clement Rohee, regarding the protests on the East Coast which have spread to West Berbice. The minister said they were “disrupting the lives of others who feel the pain” but serve also to “distract and divert the attention of the law enforcement agencies” and affect the economy as well”.

The lives of people have been disrupted and they have been in pain for years, Mr. Rohee. For years criminals have been entering their villages, robbing them, beating them, there have been hushed reports of rapes, their cattle have been stolen, some of them kidnapped and never heard from. It seems you just woke up! To claim that the protests distract and divert the attention of the law enforcement agencies, is a joke. What diverted and distracted them before? They have allowed this band of criminals to terrorize this country, and you now claim these people who have been brutalized are distracting them by protesting?

To the people I say, keep protesting! Let it spread all over the country. Villagers from all the regions in Guyana should all come out in protest and solidarity. The words of the president and his ministers are empty, as evidenced by the fact that they are in many cases exactly what was said in the past. The government seems to have ready made responses, but alas, no action, no results, the terror continues and all they do is try to pacify the victims.

To the residents I say, do not allow them to get away with this one. Keep their feet to the fire until they arrest these criminals.

Yours faithfully,

Mohan Singh