The Indian Action Committee (IAC), in a statement earlier today said it is “shocked and outraged” over the escalation of criminal activities the country is currently experiencing and has called on the authorities to take immediate action to arrest the security crisis.
The IAC said that in spite of what the Public Security Minister and other officials are saying, the public’s perception is that crime has risen sharply in several communities, mostly targeting one ethnic group. However, most of these crimes are unreported.
Following is the full statement:
The IAC is shocked and outraged with the escalation of criminal activities in Guyana especially since the beginning of 2016 in which the majority of the victims of these heinous crimes are persons of Indo-Guyanese origin, many of whom have been deprived of their hard-earned material wealth and, in some instances their lives.
The IAC has noted statements made by the Minister of Public Security about a decline in the crime rate but the public perception is that the crime rate has risen sharply because of a massive amount of unreported crimes.
The IAC understands that the Guyana Police Force is undermanned and the organisation believes that urgent recruitment is required in a manner that involves representation from the country’s ethnic groups.
The IAC is calling for the resuscitation of the Community Policing Group that was once prevalent during the previous administration.
The perception is that there is an ethnic flavour to these economic crimes which is counter-productive in relation to the government’s stated policy on social cohesion.
In the current situation of a constantly declining economy, the IAC is cognisant of the negative effects on foreign investments, local businesses, and the tourism and hospitality sector, all of which has led to growing unemployment amongst youths, many of whom have inadequate educational requirements for gainful employment.
The IAC wishes to remind the government of its pre-election’s manifesto promise of proving jobs for youths.
The IAC calls upon the government to swiftly, in partnership with the private sector, establish an enabling environment for job creation, and the organisation envisages the setting up of a council comprising representatives of all the parliamentary parties, the religious bodies, the trade unions, the non-governmental organisations, civil society, the University of Guyana and other tertiary institutions to deal with this national crisis.
It’s a complicated situation. Indo Guyanase are overall wealthier. How did this happen in an immigrant country ? Look at the USA,Canada also immigrant countries, it’s the same situation. It is a race issue all over the world..history shows that. We need to fix it.
The sad thing is that this will not stop simply because the dictator hate us– would not do anything to stop it .We have to do whatever is necessary to protect our family at all cost.These ppl do not care about us can’t you all see.Everyday our ppl are killed and robbed and the useless president is doing nothing about it.