Dear Editor: Since its inception in September 2000, ROAR and its leader Mr. Ravi Dev have called on the PPP government to provide suicide counselling in Berbice. As a matter of fact, I was at one of their early meetings in my village when they spoke about this issue and the need for services in Berbice.

In ROAR’s 2001 election programme, the party promised to open counselling services in Berbice. Today, after years of dragging its heels, after dozens of needless deaths and family problems caused by the lack of government action, the PPP have changed its mind and is finally providing much needed services to us here in Berbice.

As a Berbician, I would like to thank Mr. Dev and ROAR for standing up and fighting for us. My family and I know that if it weren’t for Mr. Dev’s constant attacks on the failures of the PPP, Berbice would never have received a university campus and a suicide-counselling centre.

Dear Editor: I am a Guyanese studying overseas and have been following the news in Guyana recently. Everyday I ask myself if I am going to return to Guyana or not. If and when I graduate I will decide.

I never dreamt that Guyana would have become the war zone it is today. It is beyond my comprehension what is happening.

When I left Guyana on the 1st of April last year everything was relatively normal. I never thought that I would read of killings of people who I dwelt with.

I have a question for all Guyanese - are we going to sit and let politicians guide us into the fire of destruction? Or are we going stand up and do something?

We have an opposition party whose main aim seems to be to wreak havoc in our country and a government which does not seem to be able to function. Plus criminals, who some people now see as heroes. Man, Guyanese make the wild west seem calm. Buxton has become the haven for criminals. What are the police and soldiers doing?

When Indo-Guyanese are targeted on the streets and in their homes, there are certain sectors of the population that remain quiet. But when an Afro-Guyanese gets killed there are protests and mayhem all around. I thought we were all Guyanese.

Remember one thing fellow Guyanese, the world is round and when you stand for injustice it will be your downfall.

To all, just put the politicians aside and think. Do you want a war zone or do you want peace? God help us all, for we seem unable to lead or follow or to decide what we want. Power is with the people and not the government. Every Guyanese can make a change.

Dalchand Lakhan

Dear Editor: The army in Guyana are neither inexperienced nor are they incompetent. They are quite experienced and competent in seizing ballot boxes, e.g., in the 1973 "elections," and harassing Indians like they continue to do in Enmore, Good Hope and in other places.