Only an honest, thorough investigation will truly ventilate this issue

Jun 13, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The Guyana leg of the Roger Khan saga will not end until the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth sets all PPP and government officials free via the process of elimination.
A few days ago, Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Clement Rohee, contradicted a statement by Khan’s lawyers that the government had approved the purchase of the controversial eavesdropping equipment Khan and two others were caught with at Good Hope in 2002.

Back then, it was confiscated by the government, but it was believed to be used afterwards to bug the phones of retired top cop, Mr. Winston Felix, and a top PNC official. Who authorised its re-issuance after being confiscated?
In an SN article, “Ramotar: PPP never had any contact with Roger Khan,” (June 12), the PPP’s General Secretary joined the government and sought vigorously to clear the name of the PPP in the still unfolding Khan narrative.
If I am not mistaken, after the late George Bacchus started the ball rolling by publicly outing Khan and his Phantom Gang, and a fleeing Khan began making statements of his crime fighting role to save the PPP government from being overthrown, both the government and the ruling party openly denied knowing Khan. To date, the PPP and its government have each denied Khan twice; are we to wait for a third denial by both before we can hear the biblical cock crow once?
Based on Khan’s own revelations, via his lawyers in New York, it would now be ideal if the government reopens an investigation into Khan’s self-confessed crime fighting role in Guyana, and how he came by the equipment he used. This would require he reveal who in the government or the PPP approved or knew of his purchase and illegal use of the equipment.
It is possible that many top officials in the government and or the executives of the ruling party were left out of the loop, but we cannot verify this unless there is an honest and thorough investigation.

And since the President has now gone the route of using polygraph testing in place of hard evidence to determine who is guilty and who is innocent, maybe all the names Khan ever mentions as being involved with or aware of his operations should be required to take polygraph tests.
I’ll get back to this polygraph testing issue presently, but I must ask, how come a government that was reeling under the crushing 2002-2004 crime waves, with no real help from its demoralised and demonized police force, not know who Khan was given the man’s ability to finance the extra-judicial killings of what is now said to be 200 people?
More specifically, how could the President, who is also Commander in Chief of the army and the Defence or National Security Minister, not know who Khan was given what really was at stake during the crime wave?
The President seemed to always know the PNC was involved and who the criminals were, but he never knew who Khan was!

The same question can be asked of the HPS who is also Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary of the Defence Board! A government is facing a fall at the hands of criminals, gets saved by one man who finances a murderous gang and the government or the ruling don’t know the man? Tell that to a polygraph tester!
Mr. Editor, the fact that Khan confessed to using active members of the police force raises questions about the roles of the then Home Affairs Minister and then acting top cop.
And if they played roles, then is it not possible that these men might have some knowledge of the procurement and use of the eavesdropping equipment? Everybody cannot keep denying knowledge, or else it means Khan was on his way to taking over the government without the knowledge of the government!
Getting back to the polygraph testing issue, I think that now the President has gone ahead and fired the nine CANU officers, it confirms my deep suspicion that he is not only being dictatorial, but that he is prepared to discriminate by selecting those he wants fired.

The labour movement has to take careful note!
Usually, in suspected cases of corruption that can lead to dismissal, the decision to fire is made based on evidence unearthed via a standard investigation into corruption and such a standard would have to be applied across the board in government departments and agencies.
But by resorting to polygraph testing, the President’s opinion has taken the place of hard evidence. Notice, in firing the officers, he reportedly said he was not satisfied with the answers the officers gave in explaining why they failed the tests. He was not satisfied? This is so profoundly disturbing, Guyanese have to seriously pay attention or it will be deja vu all over in Guyana!
Emile Mervin