“…this country owes a debt of gratitude to the security forces, especially our policemen and women,” he told a ceremony commemorating the Enmore Martyrs at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.

The President said many times the security forces come in for a lot of criticism and people forget to see the circumstances in which they operate, with wages and conditions of service that are not very great.

But they “put their lives at risk every single day, so all of us, the whole country, could live in peace, and it is not easy, he noted.

“It’s good to sit in homes and pontificate about what people should be doing and what they shouldn’t be doing, but when you’re out there on the streets, it’s a different matter.

A section of the gathering at the Enmore Martyrs commemoration ceremony at Enmore, East Coast Demerara yesterday.
As a nation, we have to have a growing appreciation of the work and the hardships that they face,” the President stressed.

He made the point in reference to a comment by Mr. Komal Chand, President of the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union, who earlier urged a united fight against the scourge of new criminality challenging the existence of a lawful and orderly society.

Chand, recalling a wave of death and destruction following the escape of five notorious criminals from jail more than a year ago, said people of all race, class, religion and political affiliation have been affected, a fact some refuse to recognise.

“…we must combine our solidarity with our law-enforcement agencies to confront the new criminals and take back our communities, so that governmental and local programmes of development for all may be implemented…,” he appealed.

President Jagdeo, who later urged the creation of a society in which all are free to utilise their rights and expand their wealth without fear, acknowledged that many could not have expressed their individuality nor conduct daily activities because of the constant threat of being harmed by criminals.

But he also warned that crime should not be a political tool because criminals have no loyalties and come in all shapes and colours. “As a nation, all of us, regardless of our political affiliation,…we have to collectively get together and battle people who seek to harm our way of life,” he stressed.

The President was commenting on recent attempts by some groups claiming only one section of society fell prey to criminals. “I see every victim as equal and we must all mourn them equally. We will never, ever pander to sectoral interest,” he stated to applause from a gathering of relatives of the Martyrs, diplomats and other officials.

He said the tragedy of the Enmore Martyrs - Harry, Rambarran, Pooran, Lalabagee and Surujballi, who were gunned down on June 16, 1948, is a warning against human tendency to dehumanise others and must inspire citizens to secure the very values for which they died, greatness and a caring and prosperous society.

The ceremony, chaired by Mr. Carvil Duncan, President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, was hosted on a grassy plot opposite the Enmore Monument Square the Martyrs share a monument in honour of their sacrifice.