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Rohee’s own words are sufficient to justify his immediate resignation

Jul 26, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
After massive public outrage and condemnation of the barbaric action which took place at Linden, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee on Sunday, July 22nd, 2012, came out and laid blame squarely at the feet of members of the Guyana Police Force for the mayhem which resulted in deaths and serious injuries. He told the nation that he was in no way involved in the decision for police officers to gun down innocent citizens.
On Tuesday,6th December, 2011, Minister Rohee made the same excuse when police rained pellets on peaceful citizens in Hadfield Street Georgetown. Many people were shot in the back and head.
The fact that these heinous acts are committed by the members of the Guyana Police Force with such frequency and boldness must be a cause for concern, especially since the Home Affairs Minister claims to be oblivious as to what is going on.
If we are to accept Minister Rohee’s claims that he is ignorant as to what transpired at Linden and that the police, not him, is responsible for causing the mayhem, the Minister of Home Affairs may have a serious problem managing the police force or exercising any authority over same.
The question as to who is responsible for the maintenance of internal security becomes very critical in this case. If the Minister never knows or is uninformed about these excessive and deadly measures used by members of the police force to shut out peaceful demonstration, then he is clearly not in control of the police force and must resign forthwith.
Too often the Minister claims not to know, and this claim, if true, puts the Minister in a very unsympathetic position which emphasizes his weakness, lack of control and inability to manage the Guyana Police Force. The protection and safety of all Guyanese then becomes very risky, as it seems to be left to elements in the force who, based on Minister Rohee’s claims, can determine when to shoot and kill innocent citizens.This situation is sufficient to demand the immediate resignation of Minister Rohee.
If we are to accept Minister Rohee’s position that the police force is to be blamed for the open use of live rounds on peaceful protestors at Linden, and which resulted in deaths, we must ask ourselves what might have caused these police officers to, without more, take such barbaric action? What might have encouraged them or induced them to take such murderous action against innocent citizens?
Just last month I had reason to caution Minister Rohee, the Minister responsible for public order and security, to refrain from making certain statements which I believe were suspicious and capable of causing unnecessary fear and excitement in the nation. The readers would remember the minister’s comments about ‘some fragile state of national security’ in which he claimed Guyana have found itself. His specific reference to Linden, as a place where some unusual security situation might take root, is mind-boggling today.
So did the ranks, who Mr. Rohee claims must take sole responsibility for the shootings, decide to unleash terror in Linden because they felt that some ‘fragile security’ situation, in Linden, referred to by their subject minister, warranted these acts of murder?
My hope is that the investigation reveals all the relevant details.
Lurlene Nestor

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