APNU not buying Minister Rohee’s explanation of Harding’s injury

Jan 20, 2014 News

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has reiterated its No Confidence in Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee moreso in the context of the treatment of Colwyn Harding who suffered attacks by the hands of police.

Leader of APNU
David Granger

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

The Opposition coalition has reiterated that as long as Minister Rohee remains in the portfolio as Minister of Home Affairs, they are not going to support any measures proposes in the National Assembly.
“When you look at the treatment of young Colwyn Harding, when you look at the rate of murders, when you look at traffic accidents, when you look at the rate of killing in the Hinterland, the banditry, the piracy, when you look at the cocaine smuggling, we are convinced that the decision we took in July 2012 asking the President to revoke the appointment of Mr. Rohee as Minister of Home Affairs, is a correct decision and we hope the President would see that there is need to implement the resolution of the National Assembly,” Opposition Leader David Granger said.
According to Granger the answer given by Minister of Health Bheri Ramsaran in the National Assembly that Harding was suffering from an “incarcerated Hernia” is “in aberrance with reality”.
The Opposition Leader further mentioned that when Ramsaran spoke in the National Assembly his own colleagues “could not believe what they were hearing and they said certain things and he snapped at them.”
According to Granger, APNU does not accept the explanation of the injury.
“We feel there has been mischief and we intend to explore every possible legal means to determine who is responsible for that condition and bring that person to justice,” he said.
To that end, APNU said it has already called for an independent inquiry into Harding’s situation since they feel it goes beyond the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
“This is a serious position that requires independent judicial enquiry. It’s not the first time and unless we put an end to it, there will be a recurrence. We had a problem over on the West Coast of Demerara and if action had been taken to punish the offenders, we probably would not have seen a recurrence. We have been saying this over and over again.
This is not a problem with SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), this is a problem of basic police training and basic police supervision. These are the things which are deficient within the Guyana Police Force, not SWAT,” said Granger.
According to the Opposition Leader, there has been some admission on the part of the police that there was a deficiency in supervision and negligence in Harding’s situation and the police have already transferred the persons responsible which he said “is an old police trick of inflicting mischief in another region instead of suspending the person or bringing that person before the Courts which we will press for in APNU. You put the person to continue the mischief somewhere else, so we are not satisfied with that at all.”