Things about Guyana which are inexplicable

OCTOBER 3, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON A man inserts his vagina into a child. Under the Sexual Offences Act, that is defined as rape. Three weeks ago, he was sentenced to 45 consecutive years in jail. A man saw his girlfriend talking with another fellow. In a jealous rage he beat her to death with a piece of wood. That is a cruel death. He was given twelve years on Thursday by a Judge. I find it inexplicable how the legal system in this country works. On the same day the media reported this 12-year sentence, the Minister of Public Security is quoted as expressing concern at over-crowding in prison. Has anyone done a research on the persons who are in prison and the type of crimes committed? A Government cannot provide a solution to over-crowding in the jails if such research is not done. Why that research is necessary is because the survey may reveal that the over-crowding consists of convicts who should not be in jail at all. It means we should re-look at the sentencing structure of the courts. Another inexplicability of this country is the bail system. This is a poor country where wages and incomes in the entire public sector, meaning all spheres where people are paid from state funds, are shocking compared to Caribbean standards. It becomes unimaginable when the comparison is done with developed states. Yet in a poor country like this, enormous bail is set by Magistrates on lower income accused who simply cannot afford to acquire such sums. In the Magistrates’ Courts, high bail may be a deception. Is one of the explanations that Magistrates want to remand the accused but to avert criticism the Magistrate goes for a very high bail? Bail has become an obsession in the lower courts. Why was former Minister, Jennifer Westford not put on her own recognizance? It defies elementary reasoning to think that Westford would flee the jurisdiction and not appear for her case. Whoever was the Magistrate that imposed that huge amount of bail on Westford, he/she had to believe that bail was a deterrent. The reason why bail was put for Westford was simple – there is no legal, intellectual distinction on the part of the lower courts on the type of people that come in front of them. For the lower courts, bail must be set in monetary terms. So Parliamentarian, Dharamkumar Seeraj was put on $40,000 bail for dangerous driving. Can anyone in this country envisage that this man would abandon the Rice Producers’ Association that he heads, abandon his parliamentary seat and flee Guyana rather than appear in court? It is a foregone conclusion that since there were no deaths or injuries and as a first offender, he certainly will not be jailed if found guilty. Why then would he flee Guyana? Why wasn’t he put on self bail? The answer is simple; bail has to be assigned no matter who is in front of the Magistrate. There is the spectacle in this country that every week the press reports on the Chief Justice awarding bail after petitions were presented. There isn’t a week that passes without the Chief Justice acting on bail petitions. Here is an obvious connection with over-crowding. At the time of writing, this writer doesn’t know what the holding capacity is of the various jails in Guyana and the holding capacity for remands prisoners. But I would like to think the disparity is gargantuan. I would say if a holding facility was built for a thousand prisoners that very receptacle probably has three thousand. What is the solution? Build more prisons or look at the sentencing structure? Why jail young first offenders for stealing a bicycle or car part or possession of a joint of marijuana. V. S. Naipaul lives in mental turmoil over the fact that he comes from a region that refuses to be innovative. Over-crowding in prison should galvanize us to be innovative. We can sentence young offenders to community work in the public sector. Instead of jailing them where their future is assured of destruction, put them to clean up stink Georgetown. Put them to clean up the jungle that is Georgetown. Put them to clean up one of the most disgraceful sites on the globe – the hundreds of rotting cars in the compound of the police headquarters at Eve Leary, some of which date back to the era when flour was illegal to import. Put them to clean up the stink toilets that the public have to use at police stations and at the courts. Can Guyana ever be creative? We are nearing fifty years of Independence