Dear Editor,

A few weeks ago thieves broke into my church building and stole all the fans. What amazed me is how people can stoop so low as to break into a place of worship to steal by not having the fear of God. I went to the police to report the matter, and they came to inspect the broken church door locks and took a statement from me, but they did not go around into the community to carry out investigations. I now have to put iron grills on the church windows and doors to prevent further break-ins by hooligans. Now my church will look like a prison.

In my conversations with various religious leaders from the Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities, I was told by these leaders that they themselves were victims of thieves who broke into their temples, mosques and churches and stole thousands of dollars worth in equipment even though they have grillwork on their buildings. They now have to put security guards at nights on their churches. What have we really become today in our society? We have fallen morally and spiritually.

Every day I read about thieves breaking into schools, shops, markets, homes, churches, post offices, offices and cars, and about them choking and robbing people in broad daylight; the long dismal list goes on. It seems as if people today lack the inspiration and the motivation to work hard to earn their living, and just want to live free by stealing from others who are working hard. I read in the papers that thieves broke into Dr Paloma Mohamed’s car just outside the shopping mall in Regent Street and stole her bag containing bank cards, camera, and lots of valuable stuff. I read again about thieves snatching a lady’s bag with 3 million dollars in cash and over 2 million in gold. They were never caught though it happened in broad daylight.

These thieves are not caught by the police but are roaming around our city streets waiting to steal again. It seems as if the police are not equipped to catch these thieves because most of them won’t carry a gun and some of them are afraid of the thieves and bandits since a number of police have been shot and killed. Our police commissioner is just talking, but not really taking serious action to protect the citizens of this nation. I wonder why it is that the GDF is not patrolling the streets of Georgetown and why they are not placed to guard government ministries, banks, etc, as they do in other Caricom countries.

I lived in Suriname for a long time as well as in other countries, and law and order is very good there. In Suriname, I used to leave my house opened and go to work. One could park one’s car in the city and leave it opened with millions for hours to go shopping, and nothing would be stolen because the police and army presence is everywhere.

Why is it our country cannot even come near to our Caricom neighbours when it comes to police and military protection? In Suriname and Brazil people who walk the roads idly are picked up by the police and soldiers for loitering. Today in Guyana we have thousands of street hooligans, touts and choke and robbers all over the city. The three card game is played at Port Mourant market every Saturday; hooligans are robbing citizens and the police just pass by and do nothing. Loud music once again invades our society and the mini-buses, and the police do nothing.

What we need is a real political change in this country. President Jagdeo is now a Dr and a Champion of the Earth. It’s very unfortunate that he is not a real leader and champion of Guyana where thieves and bandits are rampant in a land of lawlessness. He cannot see the garbage dumps in Georgetown and tons of beggars that line the streets and beg in front the Airline Office in Regent Street. He cannot see the numbers of pavement sleepers and homeless children and school dropouts, yet he is called ‘Dr’ and ‘Champion.’ Our President is also the head of the military yet he cannot get the soldiers to patrol our country to catch thieves and criminals.

We need a house to house evaluation of every citizen in this country to pick up the dope pusher, the non-working thief, and so on. What have we really achieved as a nation after 44 years of independence? How do we compare ourselves with the rest of Caricom, Europe, and the world? We are now seen as a human trafficking nation by the US; we have seen two Guyanese convicted for terrorism; we were seen again on Oprah Winfrey recently in relation to Jonestown. The name ‘Guyanese’ has become a bad one. We are also now seen as a very corrupt nation and people.

Thieves and white collar criminals are everywhere – even in high office; we have thieves and bribe collectors. I hope we try and champion our cause of blackouts, garbage, thieves, drugs, rum-drinking and illiteracy before we become a nation of nobodies.

Yours faithfuly,
Rev Gideon Cecil