Health Ministry’s fire politically conceived by whom?

Jul 30, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
The fire at the Ministry of Health on Thursday, July 16, 2009 has added to the avalanche of unanswered questions which have followed every one of the series of mysterious blazes that have destroyed a number of ministries at critical points in the life of the PPP/C government.
Guyanese are all too aware that every time a ministry or minister comes under focus, fire results and the people suffer tremendous losses of resources. On each and every occasion political opponents of the government are blamed for the disaster.

This latest fire is no exception. It is to be noted that in keeping with its normal approach in these matters government began its finger pointing even before the fire had been put out.
If government was really concerned at arriving at the truth of what took place, it should have taken steps to ensure that a most comprehensive forensic audit of the crime scene was initiated at the outset.
Instead, government spokesmen appear to have been more concerned with launching a witch hunt for alleged suspects than with ensuring an untainted investigation that would have looked into all aspects of the circumstances surrounding the fire, sparing no one in the process.
Such an investigation would have first ensured that the crime scene would not have been compromised and in such a situation all buildings in the compound would have been sealed until the investigation was completed.

Instead the crime scene has been cleared with unprecedented haste and great efficiency.
Today, Guyanese are faced with the ridiculous situation in which government and its security arms, even before the availability of a credible report on what took place, are hell bent on selecting a number of persons and activists of organisations and by the use of torture and other questionable methods, are working to get them to incriminate themselves and others. Troy Small and others are the most recent victims of this medieval crime fighting policy.
WPA had long warned about the danger of the security forces’ use of torture as a weapon in their so called “crime fighting” arsenal against citizens of this country.

In condemning the use of torture we had sought to remind the government that it was in violation of all of the international treaties and conventions which it had signed on to and had called on all Guyanese including key elements in civil society to break their silence on this matter.
To all appearances these warnings have fallen on deaf ears. The lack of vigorous condemnation by important sections of civil society has emboldened the security apparatus to widen its use in the current “investigations”. Today it’s the turn of the poor and the powerless. Tomorrow, who knows?
The government and the security forces need to be reminded that the brutalities of the 2002-2004 period were spawned by the violence meted out to citizens and particularly to African Guyanese young men.
While no one wishes to see a return to that grim period, there is a danger that this latest descent into lawlessness by the security forces could have serious repercussions for the society at large.

It came as no surprise that Minister Clement Rohee, as reported in the July 28 issue of Kaieteur News, had deemed the fire “politically conceived”. If the busy Minister takes the time to listen he will hear that citizens across the board share his sentiments. They however differ with him on the location of the conceivers.
They believe that if he had the evidence he claims to have he would have moved on the perpetrators. Short of that, they see his utterances as just another worn out political ploy. While the Minister’s statements may well be so much hot air, citizens have taken note of his promise of a reign of terror that will be directed against other persons including staff members of the Ministry of Health.
The Commissioner of Police would be well advised to desist from his unbecoming antics and launch a serious investigation into the cause of the fire which should not exclude the possible involvement of any person who occupies high or low political office in the government.
Desmond Trotman
Working People’s Alliance

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Health Ministry’s fire politically conceived by whom?

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