EXPOSE THEM!

Sep 07, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The President of Guyana made certain statements in the past which conveyed the distinct impression that there was footage available of the members of the ‘Fine Man’ criminal gang consorting with politicians. He did not state whether those politicians were from the PPP but did state that a lot of persons would be embarrassed when the footage was made public.
“Some people would be embarrassed…The same people who run around the place and call for inquiries and speak about the Joint Services, they will be thoroughly embarrassed,” the President was quoted as saying.
He went on to note that when the footage is released that the public would see a lot of damning things about linkages. He then indicated that political figures were linked too, something that confirmed what his party and government had been asserting for years, but for which it had never provided any proof.
The impression was therefore clearly conveyed to the public that the footage which the security forces had clandestinely obtained contained irrefutable evidence of the gunmen in Buxton and the links these gunmen had with persons, including political operatives. The expectation was equally cultivated that at the right time, no doubt after the threat had been neutralized, that the footage would be made public.
The public would have been justified therefore in believing that not only would the political links be exposed, but that charges would be favoured against the men.
All of those expectations are now shattered by the refusal of the government to release the footage, even though the heart of the criminal gang has been destroyed and it is now just a matter of sweeping up the remnants.
There is, therefore, little justification in the President’s claim that because of security reasons the footage cannot be released since it would reveal the source of the footage and this could pose a security risk to those that clandestinely acquired the footage.
Well my rejoinder to that is that this security risk has passed. I am quite sure that after the pictures of a number of the wanted men were published, the gang would have known then that they were infiltrated and who were the infiltrators. It is interesting that the government was not concerned about the security of those who infiltrated the gang when they published wanted photographs of persons whom they wanted to question, but now that at least three of those persons have been killed, there are concerns about releasing the security footage.
I wish, however, to give the benefit of the doubt to the President. He is a good man. I believe him when he says that there are political links.
I did also believe him when in the past he said that there was evidence that former President Desmond Hoyte had gone into Buxton and told the people there to keep up the pressure until the government falls. Hoyte is dead. He died a long time ago and the Peeper is still waiting for this evidence to be made public. But I believe that such evidence exists.
We must therefore find a way to have this security footage of the gunmen made public. I understand, but do not agree with the security concerns of the President, and so I have to suggest a course of action which would safeguard the identity of the source of the footage, while ensuring that the public expectation of being told of the identity of the political co-conspirators be known.
There are many ways in which this can be done, but I would only suggest two.
The first of these is for the government to identity a trusted person, say from the religious community or the private sector. That person should be shown the tape and then appear on national television confirming that he did see political persons cavorting with the enemy.
Further, I believe that the heads of the security forces would have seen the footage. The media should press them to confirm that the footage does contain evidence of political linkages with the gunmen.
The people of Lusignan and Bartica, the relatives of all those slain, in fact, the entire Guyanese nation who have suffered through the trauma are entitled to know the politicians who were involved with these gunmen. The people cannot remain silent; they must speak out and demand that those consorting with the criminals, regardless of their political affiliation, be exposed.

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