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Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Guyana Police Force and the shooting of Kelvin Fraser

The recent shooting of 16-year-old Kelvin Fraser is one which the nation should mourn. That such a young life should be taken in such a manner is indeed sad and heart-wrenching.

However, we should not seek to politicize this issue, as some are doing in the media of late. This is a matter for the police; the rank may have acted irresponsibly or recklessly when engaging the youngster, but nowhere in this situation should inference be drawn that the Government has given the Police Force the go ahead to maim and slaughter our youths.


I believe some people are seeking to gain political mileage out of this terrible incident for their own selfish purposes and this should not be condoned.  Society need not confuse this incident with that of what occurred during the crime wave period in this country either.


This is a separate issue and I believe it should be dealt with expeditiously and professionally by the Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Cops say hidden cameras found in female tenant’s bedroom, bathroom



- AFC CEO Peter Ramsaroop says he’s been framed
Police said yesterday that they had unearthed three hidden cameras during Monday’s search of the apartment of a young woman who was a tenant of Alliance For Change Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ramsaroop.
The raid was conducted as police probe allegations that the party’s CEO may have been filming the woman without her knowledge.
Ramsaroop has vehemently denied the allegations, which he claims are politically motivated to tarnish his image.
A police statement issued yesterday said that one of the ‘covert’ cameras was hidden in a clock on the wall, giving a panoramic view of the apartment.
According to the police another was hidden in a radio in the bathroom and a third was focusing on her bed.
The raids were conducted at Ramsaroop’s Forshaw and New Garden Streets, Queenstown property and at his Land Of Canaan Offices, on Monday.
Police also released statements that were submitted to them by Ramsaroop and his former tenant, 19-year-old Nicole Ming.
In her statement, Ming said that she rented the apartment about two months ago from Ramsaroop.
She alleged that about a week ago, Ramsaroop asked if she would be going out, as technicians had to enter the apartment to check the telephone wires.
She said that she declined to leave her room unlocked as he had requested.
Ramsaroop allegedly said that he would check to see if he found the spare keys to the apartment.
In her statement, Ming said that she was unaware if Ramsaroop had entered her bedroom.
According to the police, on her return, she allegedly observed an instrument on the wall with a light flashing.
“She also stated that about two weeks ago she had replaced a battery in the clock in which one of the cameras was found and the camera was not affixed at that time.
She said that she complained that Mr. Peter Ramsaroop may have been recording her,” the statement said.
“The police became suspicious that Mr. Ramsaroop may be in possession of pornography and may be distributing pornography and consequently obtained warrants to search his apartment as well as his office at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara.
At the time he was overseas and upon his return on May 17, 2010, the police who seized two computer hard drives and a digital video recorder from his apartment executed the warrants in his presence. They also seized two computer hard drives from his office.”
This is truly curious situation but unlike many I'll reserve comment on this particular issue until more is known about this, particularly if the cameras were operational when the police discovered and removed them. 
Still waiting to see what will be the outcome of the CN Sharma episode, Guyana has really sunk further into depravity.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Britain's David Cameron becomes PM; Brown out


LONDON - Conservative leader David Cameron became Britain'syoungest prime minister in almost 200 years Tuesday after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government.
Cameron said he aims to form a full coalition government with the third-place Liberal Democrats after his Conservative Party won the most seats but did not get a majority in Britain national election last week.
The 43-year-old leader said it would be "hard and difficult work" to govern as a coalition but added that Britain had serious economic issues to tackle. Cameron visited Buckingham Palace and was asked to form a government by Queen Elizabeth II less than an hour after Brown tendered his resignation to the monarch.
Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's pact would be the first coalition government since World War II.
Arriving at London's Downing Street hand in hand with his wife Samantha, Cameron said he believed that Britain's "best days lie ahead."
Hundreds of onlookers, many of them booing, crowded the gates ofDowning Street to watch on, as Cameron swept into his new home less than 90 minutes after an emotional Brown had made a farewell address.
"We have some deep and pressing problems — a huge deficit, deep social problems, a political system in need of reform," Cameron said. "For those reasons, I aim to form a proper and full coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats."
Negotiators from both parties were finalizing the agreement as Brown and Cameron met with the queen, and holding meetings with their lawmakers to ratify the highly unusual deal. Neither side was expected to thwart the plan to govern in a coalition deal.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The CN Sharma Sexcapade

It is very terrible to read of assaults involving children, especially that of sexual assault. When children are sexually molested by adults there should be immediate and swift legal repercussions and the in the case of Mr. Chandra Narine Sharma the law needs to run its full course.

The story involving him and the underage children is horrendous, not only because of the nature of the crime committed but because of the seeming complicity of the mother.  Any mother that would voluntarily give their children up to be sexually molested by a man or anyone for that matter for financial or other gains, needs to feel the full extent of the law as well as the offender.  This is complicity of the worst form.

Mr. Sharma, under law, is innocent until proven guilty, but in cases such as these it is very hard for a society to maintain  its objectivity.  These are children all below the age 13, and it is beyond comprehension what pleasure or satisfaction an adult male can derive from relations with a child.  It is heinous to say the least.

If proven guilty of this/these terrible acts I am fully in support of the harshest possible punishment to be meted out  to this individual.  But while we get all up in arms about the Sharma situation we as a society need to realise that he is not the only influential figure in society that has committed terrible acts of sexual molestation against our children.  There are many many in this country who are guilty and complicit in the sexual exploitation of very young children, boys and girls.  We should seek to have all of these people exposed for the perverts and social delinquents that they are, and them let then lose in Camp Street.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Interactive discussion

What do you think is delaying the local government elections?

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A very very sad tragedy that has befallen an innocent young woman

The Sangeeta Persaud case is a very sad and troubling one. Why some people insists on performing what they consider to be exorcisms in this enlightened day and age is beyond the realm of human comprehension.  


These people should be put away who performed these clearly unwise acts on this young woman, for criminal negligence or something of the sort.  I believe strict action is called for here and hopefully the investigation launched by the Health Ministry will unearth some evidence that will serve in achieving this.  


We can only hope and pray that others who insist on these forms of treatment will learn from this and seize these practices.  These acts should be considered illegal, religion should not come into play here at all, rather these people need to act responsibly and allow trained professionals to carry out their work, instead of trying to play God with the lives of our people. 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

HIV/AIDS and young people

The Minister of Health recently came out and announced that Guyana is doing very well in its fight against the deadly HIV/AIDS virus, and we should look towards its elimination from 2020.  I say this is a pretty ambitious plan and one wonders if Guyana can seriously achieve this, what with the way young people are carrying on in their sexual exploits, this is going to prove even more difficult, but i say kudos to Minister Ramsammy for putting forth this ambitious plan.  That aside, stigma and discrimination is another area that still needs a lot more work and this I think should be a major focus for the Ministry.   Many a young man or woman who have engaged at some point in time in unprotected sex or some other form of risky behaviour, exposing themselves to the virus, are afraid to get tested as they fear what others will say if their status is found out.  


Guyanese as we all know are some of the most judgmental people on the face of this earth, and I think this issue needs to be addressed more effectively by the Ministry and all of the donor organisations engaged in fighting this disease.  Year after year we see the statistics of people living with HIV and AIDS yet no one really looks at those cases that are not known, no one pays attention to the young man or woman who, when they discover that they have the virus, sometimes due in part by their own risky behaviour, blames everyone but the one who ought to take responsibility, and then go out into the world not revealing their status to their sexual partners and subsequently destroying an innocent person's life.   I am yet to see a case in this country where someone was charged for willfully and knowingly infecting someone else with the HIV/AIDS virus.  This another thing the Ministry should address; there is need for some for a law in this country that prosecutes these individuals and send them away for a long time, and if there actually is such a law already, then it should be enforced and these people should be jailed like common criminals.  I say more needs to be done, either by the Ministry or international agencies before the world can realistically see a start to the eradication of this virus by the UN touted 2015 deadline.  


Someone recently told me that there is not enough effort being put into preaching abstinence to the younger generation.  This I agree with to an extent, however, its my humble opinion that the most logical and proactive thing is the teach protection and monogamy to young people.  Sure there is a section of every society where young people practice abstinence, and in more cases than not this is due in part to their religion and/or very strict upbringing.  But this is still disproportionate to the section of the society which engages in sexual activity and other risky behaviour. Of course at some point these same individuals who abstain are going to become active and will most likely practice monogamy.   


We can make moan and groan that abstinence is what needs to be taught to young people, but we need to face reality at the end of the day.  The UN reports, and this can be seen in many a community or village in Guyana and other parts of the Caribbean and the world, that year after year the age that people are engaging in sexual activities is getting lower and lower.  Our young men and women are becoming more and more sexually active at a younger age than say ten or fifteen years ago, and of course this means that more young people are exposing themselves to the HIV/AIDS virus, this is even evident in statistics readily available, that young people aged aged 15–24 account for an estimated 45 percent of new HIV infections worldwide.


Feel free to share yours thoughts and opinions on where you think Guyana is as it relates to its fight against HIV/AIDS and whether you think 2020 deadline as put forth by the Health Minister for the elimination of the virus is realistic.