-calls for licence review
Alcohol abuse is the root cause of many of the domestic violence cases before Berbice Magistrate Tejnarine Ramroop and the magistrate is calling for the liquor licence to be adhered to as there are too many rum shops in the country.
“I can tell you, 100 per cent of the domestic violence cases before me at the Albion Magistrate’s Court are related to alcohol,” the magistrate told Stabroek News in a telephone interview from his Berbice home.
He said it saddens his heart to hear the wives of men who abuse them say “he is a good man when he ain’t drinking but soon as he drink he does this.”
And he said there is a new trend he is seeing in the courts–he also sits at the Blairmont and Kwakwani Magistrate’s courts–where more and more women are appearing before the courts for abusing men while being under the influence of alcohol.
“There is excessive use of alcohol among women who are the ones who are planning the parties and then there is fighting and people appear before the courts. Most of the matters I see have to do with drunken men and women.”
The magistrate, a former teacher and probation officer before turning to law, lamented that alcohol is too accessible and persons do not respect the law which prohibits alcohol to persons under the age of 18 years.
“That law should be enforced and we should have persons out there ensuring that it is enforced and those liquor stores that are found selling alcohol to underage children should have their licences revoked,” the vocal member of the magistracy said during the interview.
According to the magistrate, there are just too many of those shops and many under the guise of being “off-licence” liquor, which means that persons should purchase the item and leave the premises.
“But yet they put a few chairs and tables and people are sitting there drinking. That shouldn’t be. I would like to get on the liquor licence board, many of these people should not get licences,” the magistrate said.
He said before granting a person a licence the powers that be should not just visit the location to check sanitation and other issues that fall under the law but also to see how many alcohol shops already exist in the community as they are only supposed to be a stipulated amount of liquor shops in every area.
To bring home his point the magistrate said that in Blairmont where he lives nine of the first 13 houses have liquor stores on the premises and that should not be.
“Those that are granting the licences should conduct a census of the community so that the area is not saturated with such stores,” the magistrate said. The magistrate pointed out that there are about 20 liquor shops to every 5,000 persons and as such the commodity is too easily accessible and it is destroying the very fabric of the country’s society.
“We may not be able to eradicate the abuse of alcohol but we sure can curtail it and all have to be involved,” the magistrate said. “I have a strong passion for this issue. It hurts me to see our families being destroyed because of alcohol. I cry at night when I go home and think about all the cases that come before me that are alcohol related, to see what it is doing to our men and women,” the magistrate said sadly.
He said it is also sad to see what becomes of children who originate from broken homes as many of them appear before him for various offences and many times because there is no facility in Berbice for juveniles he is forced to remand them to police stations, which is not the ideal thing to do as the children and not being helped but are being exposed to hardened criminals who are in the lock-ups.
Magistrate Ramroop also zeroed in on the various songs that glorify the use of alcohol and he said these contribute to the problem as when these artistes are brought into the country persons seem to have added zest and zeal to drink alcohol.
He feels that if singers could be banned from Guyana for promoting violence then singers who promote the use of alcohol should also be banned as alcohol, like violence, is destroying our society and many times alcohol is behind violent behaviours.
“They are helping to destroy the people, many of them just get paid and they would go to shows and drink and get drunk and the entertainers carry away their money,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate indicated that many times when he hears about upcoming shows he would “tremble” because he knows there would be a flood of cases before him the following court day; all to do with persons drinking and behaving badly.
“We have to do something and make alcohol hard to get,” the magistrate said.
‘Nothing good’
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy concurs with the magistrate that alcohol does not only make persons sick but also plays an important part in domestic abuse, sexual abuse and other social ills such as road accidents.
“There is nothing good about the use of alcohol… I am not a crusader… I am stating the truth, we have to find a balance in life and some of these things go too far, I believe that tobacco and alcohol are among the most affordable products that people have,” the minister said.
“Not all of them are rich people, most of them are poor people and I think these are issues that we need to address,” the minister said.
He pointed out that alcohol abuse impacts a country’s development but admitted that the legal substance also contributes to the country’s economy in the areas of jobs and taxes.
“But we need to balance it out because when you look what it does to people’s health, the cost of the health sector goes up. You look at human services, you look at the education sector… teachers are taking time off because they are too tired or sick from a night out and you don’t get a hundred percent on jobs because of the drinking,” the minister pointed out.
“The productivity of a country is affected then you have the social problem like domestic violence, or sexual abuse or crimes… then you get the road accidents problems and when you look at it is not just health…” the minister said while adding all those issues add a huge burden on the health sector’s budget. He said they have been working with Ministry of Human Services and Social Security in helping children who are being affected by alcohol abuse.
The minister said that there are also the broken homes and the many persons who are unable to realize their true potential because they are hooked on alcohol.
He, like Magistrate Ramroop, stressed that the licensing process should be revisited and he pointed out that when one drives on the roadways one would see persons who would have just finished a night of drinking while there are those just out of bed and are about to commence a day of drinking.
