Time to move beyond Linden Inquiry Report

Mar 08, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
This is in reference to your news report on the Commission of Inquiry findings (KN Mar 1). The COI has not revealed anything substantially new except to give meaning to what transpired in Linden and to recommend certain actions to avoid a repeat of the violence that struck Linden.
In addition to blaming the police, the COI also blames two opposition M.Ps for the protests. During the hearing, the commissioners were critical of the behaviour and action of the organizers of the protests as well as two M.Ps. The two M.Ps were accorded responsibility for not taking measures to dissuade the protesters for blocking the bridge, etc.
The COI rightly exonerated Minister Clement Rohee as clearly he did not give instructions to use force although I feel the Minister should have taken a more hands on approach on the protests. The exoneration of Rohee clearly falls flat on the face of and is a damning critique of the opposition for passing a no confidence motion against Rohee when they had no evidence to support their contention that Rohee was responsible for the shooting.
While blaming the police for the shootings, the COI clearly stated there was no evidence that the police did the shooting. During the hearings, eyewitnesses talked about shootings but it could not be determined who did the shooting.
The COI concluded that use of force was justified to control the crowd but not to shoot into the crowd. We still don’t know who shot the protesters.
Over $85 Million was spent on this inquiry. That is money that could have been better used for the development of Linden and other depressed areas and or used to subsidize electricity rates for Guyanese.
Now that it is verified what happened in Linden, even though the public knew long before the actual hearing of what happened, who did what and when, and who is to be blamed, (and note that the COI did not blame the government for the violence), it is time to consider implementing the COI recommendations and to start police training to prevent these kinds of incidents from recurring. Although parliament may wish to consider sanctioning those who were responsible for the violence, it is time to move on and begin addressing other pertinent issues impacting on governance like constitutional reform to limit the powers of the executive and devolve powers to local governments.
Vishnu Bisram

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