Commission of Inquiry needed to investigate Govt’s involvement with criminals

Aug 14, 2009 News

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The need for a Commission of Inquiry made up of internationally reputably people is needed to ascertain whether the government or any other political party has been involved in criminal activities.
This notion was emphasised last evening when the joint opposition parties, held a meeting with members of civil society at the Concert Hall of the Mayor and City Council. Among the parties represented were the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the Alliance for Change (AFC) and GAP/ROAR.
The meeting, which comes in wake of the revelations emanating from the Robert Simels case in a New York courtroom, has indicated that government may have had some involvement with self-confessed drug dealer, Shaheed Roger Khan.

Speaking to the sizeable gathering which included religious leaders, members of the private sector commission, union activists among other notable persons, leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin, outlined that sworn testimonies offered in the New York Court clearly implicates the Guyana Government and provides essential information about the assassination, in 2006, of a prominent journalist and activist, Ronald Waddell.
In was in the very courtroom, he said, that the government’s involvement in the murder of more than 200 young Guyanese by a phantom squad, headed by Khan, was highlighted.
Describing the information as “startling” Corbin noted that no decent society should ignore the facts that have been brought to light.He stressed that the disclosures should also concern the International Community, especially, CARICOM, the Commonwealth and the United Nations and its specialised institutions.

But according to the PNCR leader, the revelations of the Guyana Government’s involvement in criminal activity are not new to Guyanese.
He pointed out that over the past eight years, particularly since 2002, several organisations in Guyana, including the PNCR, have brought such matters to the attention of the diplomatic Community in Guyana, foreign Governments and International Organisations through press releases and other initiatives. Emphasising the importance of the evidence produced in court towards an inquiry, Chairman of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, said that the well researched information would be an asset in an unbiased inquiry.
According to Ramjattan, yesterday’s forum was to engage a consolidated effort towards the educating of the Guyanese people about the government’s association with criminality as it being revealed in the Simels trial.
He noted that efforts will be made to urge Government to have the very crucial commission of inquiry. And the inquiry, he said, should include criminal action which commenced since the 2002 jailbreak right up to 2006 in order to establish political involvement in any form.

The meeting also saw contributions from Professor Clive Thomas, GAP/ROAR Everald Franklin, and Dr Cheddi ‘Joey’ Jagan.
According to Ramjattan, the meeting yielded the desired results although it was somewhat disjointed in terms of the different perspectives that were forthcoming from some in attendance.
He noted that there was need to indicate to the gathering, that the parties will in no way tolerate a violent reaction and will not condone any illegitimate action.
The party chairman pointed to the fact that since the government is a duly elected one that has misbehaved, there is need to derive recommendations to prevent further occurrences.
“We don’t need big demonstrations, because it could get largely out of hand. The government right now is provoking the opposition to go into that mode of operation and the AFC would have none of it,” Ramjattan insisted.

Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, in a release issued ahead of the meeting noted the government’s concerns and even sought to highlight some matters which should have been discussed.
According to Dr Luncheon, the most important question that should have been addressed is whether the opposition parties are sincere in offering a spectacle as the dominant issue affecting Guyanese of today.
He cited, too, the question of whether the opposition parties would not consider that parliament is the most appropriate fora to deal with the critical issues, political and otherwise.
The PNCR should be asked whether it is prepared for full disclosure about its role in the tragedies that affected Guyana in the period 2001 to 2008, Dr Luncheon said.
The Cabinet Secretary also queried whether the PNCR and the AFC would be willing to disclose the basis for their support of the Buxton gang during the aforementioned period.
“Would the PNCR support a full probe into such matters? Would the PNCR support a probe into the whereabouts of weapons, the arms that were provided to the party when they constituted the government in the 1970s, arms and ammunition that are still unaccounted for?”

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