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Laurie Lewis told President Jagan who killed Monica Reece
Cheddi Jagan
Laurie Lewis
I met Laurie Lewis in 1975 at the University of Guyana. From 1975 until he died in August 2012, we remained on very friendly terms. I saw him in a wheelchair at the Georgetown Public Hospital and we had our usual, witty conversation. He died two days later.
Knowing someone from 1975 to 2012 gives you sufficient time to assess the substance of that person’s character. Laurie Lewis will remain one of the most controversial personalities this country produced. His life story is mired in dangerous and unappealing details of which I will not deny even though I believe deep down in my heart, I have a superficial fondness for him. I do not think he ever refused me a favour.
From 1975, until he left public office, I could have asked Laurie for a favour. But Laurie was a shrewd, Machiavellian operator. I would never ask for a concession that would compromise my morality because Laurie would use that against you. This was where he was brilliant. This was the lesson he internalized from his association with President Forbes Burnham.
I don’t doubt for a moment that Laurie was part of the body of knowledge surrounding the Walter Rodney murder. I knew Laurie had a massive amount of intelligence data on people, data he threatened to use against them in order to succeed in the pursuit of his desires, and he did succeed. I will come to his blackmail of President Jagan and the Monica Reece scandal below.
I would have loved to get my hand on some of those documents so twice I broached the matter with his wife. One evening at the wake of the mother-in-law of Dr. Mark Kirton, at Mark’s home, (Laurie hadn’t died as yet but was retired) and recently in the Promenade Gardens at the funeral service of the father of Andaiye, Dr. Frank Williams. Mrs. Lewis said that Laurie left no documents at his home.
Monica Reece
The second highest concession I ever wrested from him was a gun licence for a businessman who was entitled to it. The biggest favour I secured from him was on my return to UG in 1977 after I was expelled for refusing to do National Service.
I agreed to do National Service and Laurie facilitated me by having me work with him in his National Service office at Broad and Charles Street, Charlestown. This is what drove me to like Laurie. He knew I was anti-Burnham and anti-government and he could have sent me to a National Service camp deep in the interior.
Every time I pass that junction I gaze at that building which has become the Child Care and Protection Agency and I would remember Laurie. For more on my relation with Laurie Lewis in previous columns, see the following; “Laurie Lewis and I at the Garden Café,” KN, July 24, 2008 and “The Laurie Lewis Interview,” KN, November 22, 2008.
I now come to Monica Reece. I knew Laurie was very fond of me and I could ask sensitive things though I know he was an intelligence officer of the highest caliber and you don’t get information easily from such minds.
I was leaving the compound at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital (I wrote about this encounter before), and I saw Laurie on the entrance steps. He looked tired, sick and resigned. He was waiting for his car. We talked and I suggested the name of the person who we in the media think killed Monica Reece. I suspect Laurie knew he was not going to last long and he agreed. I knew he was fond of me all these decades and I could take the chance.
He told me I will never quote him because he will never give me the name. Then he gave me a series of easily matched clues that when put together, you can easily discern the name. For obvious reason, I can say no more although as recent as three days ago, I shared that information with Michael Jordan of this newspaper.
I asked Laurie why he didn’t charge the man. The response was easily predictable – the evidence to stick was not there. I didn’t believe Laurie but I was courteous not to express my feeling. Laurie Lewis was compromised and that fact dented whatever was left of his credibility.
President Cheddi Jagan could not have pressured Laurie because Laurie had damaging information on Jagan. This explains why Jagan, as told to me by Khemraj Ramjattan on our way down from Berbice a few years ago, and his wife Janet, literally despised Khemraj after Khemraj at a Central Committee meeting in 1995 at Freedom House called for Laurie’s dismissal.
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