Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 30, 2013 APNU Column, Features / Columnists
Guyana’s hinterland west of Fort Island on the Essequibo River could be a very lawless and dangerous place. Banditry is rampant; contraband smuggling is commonplace; disease is prevalent; poverty is pervasive and educational standards are lower than the rest of the country.
The hinterland – comprising mainly the Barima-Waini; Cuyuni-Mazaruni; Potaro-Siparuni; Rupununi and parts of the Pomeroon-Supenaam and East Berbice Corentyne Regions – comprises over three-quarters of this country’s territory. Long unwatched land borders with Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname – extending nearly 2,500 km; vast unpatrolled open spaces; unmonitored airstrips and numberless rivers have become corridors for illegal narcotics and firearms to be carried to commit crimes on the coastland.
The population might be only about 100,000 but the potential wealth – in the form of bauxite, diamond, gold and manganese mining; stone and sand quarrying; logging and tourism – is inestimable. It has always been a serious mistake to underestimate the human aspects of development, the spatial dimension of national security and the impact that neglect of the hinterland infrastructure has had on the rest of the country.
Disease is prevalent. The recent outbreak of gastro-enteritis in the Barima-Waini Region caused the deaths of at least three children, although there is evidence that others might have died from the disease. The first child died on 15th February; the second on 4th March. The third death was that of an unnamed twelve-month-old. The number of persons affected by the disease surged to over 529 when the Government imposed a ‘news blackout’ and suddenly stopped issuing medical bulletins by 1st April.
The Ministry of Health, throughout the crisis, provided misleading information to give the false impression that the epidemic was “under control” and that “The ministry has been on top of the issue even before it was highlighted by the media.” This was not so.
Educational standards are abysmally low. The recent, notorious newspaper photographs of students at Kato in the Potaro-Siparuni Region tell their own story of official misconduct and administrative neglect. Dropout rates for boys and girls in primary and secondary schools in hinterland regions – particularly Nos. 1, 7, 8 and 9 – are double the rates for the rest of the country. Failure rates at the annual National Grade Six Assessment examinations are a scandal, with the majority of children failing all four subjects.
The Ministry of Education blames the victims. Hinterland children are said to perform poorly because of “emotional problems, early adult responsibilities, learning disabilities and parenthood” which were said to be the major contributing factors to children’s dropping out of schools. Poor attendance, low education expectations, low socio-economic status, poor education of parents, large number of siblings and not living with natural parents, limited resources in schools, high pupil-teacher ratios also combined to contribute to the drop-out rates and obstruct opportunities for academic success.
Crime, especially banditry, contraband smuggling, robbery under arms, narcotics-trafficking and gun-running are commonplace. The People’s Progressive Party Civic administration and the Ministry of Home Affairs, in particular, have never paid adequate attention to hinterland security. The Guyana Police Force admitted long ago that it was difficult to tackle the problem of crime in the hinterland because of the scattered population and inadequate communications there. Police stations were undermanned; stations were situated very far apart; patrols could not cover the distances because of the size of the districts and its lack of air, land and river transport.
The Police Force does not possess the aircraft, vehicles, vessels, personnel and other resources to investigate crimes in the widely dispersed villages, logging camps and mines. Brazilian miners have been murdered; horrible vehicle accidents have taken the lives of dozens; abandoned narco-trafficking airplanes have occasionally been ‘discovered’ on roadways or airstrips.
Bandits easily exploit the Force’s lack of resources and inability to effectively patrol the ‘bush’ in order to commit violent crimes. Robbery with violence is a frequent occurrence and it is easy for assailants to escape. Bandits pounce on miners in their camps or lie in wait in the bush along the roads and trails to ambush, rob and kill. At least one person is murdered somewhere in the hinterland every month.
The hinterland is a major conduit for illegal narcotics and firearms to be ferried to the coastland. Drug and gun crimes on the coastland rely on regular replenishment. The hinterland is also the source of significant fuel, gold and diamond smuggling; trafficking in persons; illegal migration and everyday banditry.
The crime of trafficking in persons received scant attention until the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation shamed the government into acknowledging the extent of the problem. A Partnership for National Unity recently piloted a resolution through the National Assembly demanding a Commission of Inquiry into the scourge.
The United States’ Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons annual Trafficking in Persons Report, has routinely reported over the years: “Guyana is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.” It is a notorious fact that Amerindian girls have been trafficked to brothels near the mining camps and timber grants for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. It is known also that young Amerindian men are exploited under forced labour conditions in mining and logging camps.
The ‘frontier conditions’ which are tolerated in the hinterland are the result of a combination of executive ignorance and administrative incompetence. They have had catastrophic consequences for those who live and work there. The PPPC administration needs now to change its negligent approach to the way it governs the hinterland if our citizens are to enjoy a good life.
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