The Alliance For Change (AFC) has issued a passionate call for a moral reckoning in Guyana, urging citizens across all strata, creed, and colour to unite against the scourge of gun violence that has gripped the nation. This comes in the wake of the tragic shooting death of Jairam Ramkishun, 69, of Westminster Housing Scheme, WBD, during an attempted robbery on Sunday. This incident follows the recent execution-style killing of Evelyn Alves at Diamond EBD.
The AFC extended its condolences to the bereaved families and expressed its profound outrage at the frequency of such violent incidents. “We must be outraged when such shootings and killings occur, especially with the regularity within recent times. We seem to have become numb to it all,” the statement read. The party called on citizens to take to the press, social media, and streets to demand that the government and law enforcement diagnose the root causes of this surge in gun violence and devise effective solutions for its reduction, if not elimination.
Highlighting the previous work done under the Citizen Security and Strengthening Program and the British Security Sector Reform Program, the AFC noted that the implementation of these recommendations seems to have ceased or been shelved. The party stressed that to be successful in reducing gun violence sustainably, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) must develop evidence-based and community-informed solutions. It emphasised the need for a comprehensive understanding of who is committing the violence, where it is occurring, and why.
The AFC urged the government and law enforcement to employ well-known tools to identify the small cohort of individuals most likely to engage in gun violence. Crime mapping to pinpoint hotspots and the public sharing of disaggregated weekly statistics of serious crimes were also recommended. The statement emphasised the importance of combining data and human intelligence to understand the dynamics of high-end lethal violence, with a focus on discovering both the proximate and root causes.
The AFC called for budgetary allocations to specifically target the increase in gun crimes. “Devoting additional resources to curb gun violence and murders is affordable by any budgetary standard, especially if compared to the costs of the loss of lives and limbs, the medical costs, the criminal justice costs, lost earnings, the reduced quality of life, and so many consequential costs of the violence,” the statement argued. It insisted that funds must be allocated specifically for the reduction of shootings and killings, with the GPF and the Ministry of Home Affairs providing progress reports to show that the monies are being spent effectively on the identified people, places, and behaviours driving gun violence.
Lamenting that the GPF, particularly some of its officers the party put forward, appears to be far removed from these core functions and progressive activities. “As a nation, we will be worse off for it,” the AFC warned.
