Health Ministry fire… Politically conceived

Jul 28, 2009 News

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– Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, has asserted that the fire that destroyed the Ministry of Health building was politically motivated.
Addressing the media with the Commissioner of Police and other senior police officers, Minister Rohee said that from the evidence gathered so far, it is clear that the act was conceived within a political context.
The Minister however stopped short of pointing fingers at any specific group, claiming that investigations were still ongoing.
“Even though I don’t wish to provide you with great detail, I could safely say at this point that investigation so far has been proven to be highly successful,” Rohee told the media.
He said that investigators have been able to establish that the act was a well orchestrated plan with a number of persons involved, some of whom are well known in the society and some who are underlings who were hired to perpetrate this act.
“But the intellectual authors of this act have been established. We know that persons were promised sums of money and then sent on errands to purchase bottles, to purchase channa and to purchase gasoline. There is incontrovertible evidence that would eventually be made public,” the Minister added.
He said that the police have also uncovered where the persons who perpetrated the act met and planned it as well as information on when and where they entered the Ministry.
The Minister pointed out that the information gathered by the police would render any other theory obsolete.
Since the probe commenced, six persons were arrested and already two are before the courts, charged with arson.
But according to Police Commissioner Henry Greene, investigators are still looking for two more key players who could greatly assist the investigations.
The Commissioner reiterated what the Home Affairs Minister stated and went on to disclose that investigators were able to obtain statements that point directly to opposition forces.
“We have indeed seen a clear pattern in which statements have been made about people not liking the government, wanting to create diversions, wanting to burn up cars and ending up burning down the Ministry of Health. These statements were made, we have that evidence in writing, promises were made to pay persons and indeed some have confessed that they have indeed received money after the burning down of the Ministry of Health,” the Police Commissioner said.
According to Greene, there is enough evidence to suggest that some of the perpetrators of the Ministry of Health arson were on bicycles, while others were in vehicles.
He pointed out that investigators have found out that the perpetrators were able to breach the security of the Ministry of Health compound since the guards were apparently asleep.
“Our investigations are ongoing and we feel that we have a lot more to unearth based on statements that have been made in this matter as to who is supporting what took place at the Ministry of Health,” the Commissioner stated.
Greene noted that at least one of the persons in custody has confessed to working with other sources.
He stressed that the statements were obtained without coercion, intimidation or by force, pointing out that the investigation was done strictly on intelligence carefully gathered.
However, the Commissioner stated that investigators are still to questions some persons who work at the Ministry of Health, adding that statements from Minister Leslie Ramsammy and his Secretary would have been obtained yesterday.
“Today we’ll get that statement and that of his secretary because they were the last persons to leave the building,” Greene stated.
Greene was however not prepared to speak on the alleged torture of West Ruimveldt resident, Troy Small, who was released on station bail last week after spending days at the Alberttown Police Station.
Meanwhile, head of the Justice for Jermaine Committee, Heston Bostwick, who turned himself into police on Saturday, was also released on station bail.
“I think we can say that we can see clearly now and I think this is what I can call excellent police work. It shows that our force has now reached a level where they can crack an activity like this in such a short period of time and that speaks well for the organisation,” Minister Rohee said.
“I think that this is excellent police work, excellent investigating and it could not have been done if the police had not applied their best skills, their best knowledge and their best ranks to carry out these investigations,” he added.
In light of the success of the local investigators, it is not yet clear if the administration will continue to solicit the offered assistance from the United States Military Southern Command.
Minister Rohee said that he found the case to be a very intriguing one for a number of reasons.
He noted that usually with matters such as this there are a lot of theories floating around but the information obtained by the police points to one direction, especially consideration is given to the links that have been established and those that are emerging.
“Especially when you recognise the names of the persons who were involved and the link. There were active players and there were passive players,” Rohee stated.
He said that the administration is putting the passive players on notice that, there is now a fairly good grasp of their network, whether formal or informal.
“Some have begun digging in, probably to hide their tracks. But I think those of us who live in Guyana would know that at some point in time, I would think sooner more than later, because of what has already been established, it wouldn’t be that difficult to find others that may have been involved in this activity,” Rohee said.
According to the Home Affairs Minister, there is a good basis for getting to the bottom of the whole scenario and eventually investigators will be able to dispel all the other theories that are abound.
“Eventually we will have to rely on what the police come up with and anybody else who comes up with anything else remains basically a theory. It is the police, the law enforcement agencies that vested with the authority to investigate these matters lawfully and to bring who they consider to be the suspects to the attention of the DPP and have them charged and prosecuted,” the Home Affairs Minister said.
In light of the developments, the police force along with their sister security service, the Guyana Defence Force have implemented a system of checking all government ministries on a 24-hour basis.
There will also be checks on what the Police Commissioner called key installations, including GECOM.

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