Passage of this Bill is very important in light of the recent spate of kidnappings in Guyana, a relatively new and unwanted phenomenon that has added a frightening dimension to the spiraling crime wave that has plagued the country over the past year.

In introducing the Bill last December, during the historic sitting of the National Assembly which was held for the first time in the Convention Center of the Ocean View International Hotel at Liliendaal, Gajraj noted that the Kidnapping Bill provides for "the punishment of the offences of abduction, wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement, for ransom and other related offences and for matters incidental thereto."

Observers said that both the Government and Parliamentary Opposition should take a close look at the recent debate in Trinidad and Tobago about its owned proposed kidnapping legislation, to ensure that it is relevant and effective in attaining the outlined objectives. Trinidad, like Guyana, has been experiencing a spate of kidnappings. Trinidad has recorded 15 kidnappings so far this year.

Observers also believe that Guyana has the opportunity and moral obligation now to make a critical review of its own proposed legislation. For one thing, the need to widen the categories of kidnapping beyond that for ransom, and to ensure that realistic punishment is provided for collaborators with kidnappers, as well as those making ransom payments without any involvement of the security forces.

In his address to the opening of the annual Police Officers’ Conference last month, Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald admitted that there has been a dramatic increase in reported kidnappings during the latter part of last year and this year, something which is definitely a source of concern to everyone.

“One cannot deny that this type of offence requires skillful handling because of the risks involved (and) we will have to, as a matter of urgency, develop strategies to counter this threat,” McDonald said.

He said, too, that a number of initiatives is being examined to deal with this problem.

The Top Cop also urged people to take more precautions in their daily activities, thus reducing the risk of being the victims of kidnappings.

He recalled that at the previous Police Officers’ Conference he alluded to the fact that the force was dealing with dangerous criminals and not ‘boy scouts’. “I am not sure how seriously I was taken but events subsequent to that day are indications of what I was speaking about,” McDonald said.

Since June 25, 2002, when three armed men abducted Gem Rodrigues and her six-year-old son from the Let’s Dance studio on Woolford Avenue, there has been a spate of kidnappings. The latest was 55-year-old businessman, Viticharan Singh of De Hoop Mahaica. Singh was kidnapped last Tuesday but, thankfully, was on Saturday morning found alive and well in a house in the troubled and violence-prone East Coast Demerara village of Buxton by a joint Army/Police search party.

According to a joint Army/Police press release, Singh, was found in a locked house which seemed abandoned, at Buxton south of the Railway Embankment road. His kidnapping is the latest in a series, during which some of the victims were found dead. The businessman’s rescue on Saturday, however, is the first of its kind for the Police and Army and one can only hope that this would give needed inspiration in their anti-crime fight.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) in a recent statement noted that the Guyana Police Force has been under constant attack from some members of the public in their unsuccessful bid to apprehend these abductors/criminals.

GINA, however, noted that what many persons have to realize is that the victims and relatives are reluctant to divulge any information concerning the kidnappings. Their justification is that the perpetrators might victimize them.

The abduction by gunmen of an official from the United States Embassy while he was

playing golf at the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara golf course on April 12 this year, has been a new dimension to the spate of kidnappings that has been an integral part of the crime wave that has gripped the country since last year.

The incident had also thrown up the need for further assessment of the anti-crime strategies that were employed and are still being employed.