Dear Editor,
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has reportedly stated that lack of money was the reason a new prison was not built, and that funds were needed elsewhere, including for sugar. I query whether corruption, wastage, salary increases for ministers, and general misspending of money are not the factors which led to the diverting of scarce resources from the prison. In addition there is also the scholarships for ministers, the drug bond, $500K a month rental for housing a minister ‒ aren’t these factors that short-changed the prisons and sugar industry?
The Minister would have been better off not offering a comment on the riot rather than make that poor excuse for the deteriorating conditions in the prison that led to the riot and jailbreak.
The government has not implemented the recommendations of the CoI on the last prison fire a year ago. People are very fearful for their lives as a result of the jailbreak and blame the government for the current state of affairs regarding prison conditions. Almost everyone is concerned about the crime situation saying the government seems incapable of addressing it.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
