Dear Editor,
I was appalled to see the recent headlines that stated that the Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, was lobbying for more plastic and less cash transactions to stem crime. Editor, I dare say that this is one very revealing confession by our goodly Public Security Minister.
He is basically throwing his hands up in the air and telling the citizens of our country not to carry so much cash, because there is nothing that can be done about the criminal elements that hound their lives on a daily basis. This is like saying to your children to stop taking lunch to school because bullies usually take away their food.
I wonder if the minister ever stepped out of the comfort of his offices and observed the Guyanese people earning on their daily lives. If the majority of the population is filled with persons in Armani suits and designer outfits operating in a celebrity city, then Editor I am the first to put my foot in my mouth. But whether we choose to admit it or not, the majority of the population in Guyana are people who hustle and work hard to carry on their daily lives and the vast majority deal with cash.
Sure the Police have declared that “serious” crime is down. Whatever the world that means, there are still the lesser beings who on a daily basis, face the fear and challenges of being robbed in high daylight, face the risk of being terrorised in their homes by bandits, of having their purses snatched, of being held up in a store, and the list goes on. Are these unfamiliar stories?
We are now telling the labourers, the carpenters, the seamstresses, minibus operators, market vendors (I can go on like this for a long tune) to deal with plastic!!? And it can bring crime down by 35 per cent in this country?! Come on Mr Minister, you’ve got to do better than that! That’s worse than telling drivers to pull over and stop when the other drivers ignorantly turn on their LED’s at nights. Some of us lesser beings know how to read, and we are noting a very disturbing trend.
The minister needs to come to grips with the economic activities in our country that provide a living for our people and review his great thoughts. It is a convincing argument that less cash and more plastics can do lots towards improving the way of doing business and increase accountability, but when one resorts to that as a medium of curbing crane, it gets worrying.
In concluding, I am convinced that the minister’s confession of his inability and incompetence to address the criminal elements certainly lifted about 35 per cent of the weight off his chest, coincidentally, with the anticipated drop in crime level that he so convincingly touts if we were to go plastic. Might I suggest that an actual practical plan to deal with the criminals themselves might go a long way to discharging his duties and perhaps give him added relief.
Sincerely,
Khemraj Goberdhan