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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – The main opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Monday, called on the Guyana government to deal with the ‘escalating” crime situation in the country and accused President David Granger of seeking to falsify the figures.
“The recent criminal occurrences expose the falseness behind Granger’s claim that there is no new crime wave,” said PPP secretary general, Clement Rohee, a former national security minister.
PPP Secretary General, Clement Rohee. Photo credit: CMC.
He told a news conference that President Granger’s statements that the country was not under any crime wave were nothing more than a “disingenuous attempt to evade the issue”.
Rohee said that the popular perception is that crime is on the increase and he believes the police statistics also speak to this reality.
“Granger would want to wish this away by claiming that criminals are being caught, measures are working, gangs are being dismantled and the crime situation is under control,” he added.
In September, police said Guyana had recorded a six per cent increase in murders for the first eight months of this year as compared to 2014.
Police said that a total of 108 murders were recorded at the end of August this year as compared with 98 the previous year.
The Government had earlier launched a gun amnesty in a bid to reduce the number of killings and warned persons who failed to turn in their illegal weapons and ammunition that they would be shown no mercy when the amnesty ends at the end of this month.
According to the police, at the end of August 2015, there had been a 12 per cent increase in serious crimes as compared to the corresponding period last year
“Among the serious crimes policed by the force are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, robbery with aggravation, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape, and kidnapping”, the police statement said.
Rohee told reporters that the current administration has failed miserably to address the crime situation and questioned the effectiveness of several strategies employed by the government and the anti crime plan submitted to the government by the Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud.
“The government will end up like a dog chasing his own tail,” Rohee said, calling on the government to deal with the crime situation based on “facts and not fiction”.
