THE FINGERS ARE POINTING
…back at them

THE irony of it all is that the opposition is both guilty of disregarding, and is encouraging its supporters to disregard our laws, and at the same time is crying about the crime situation.
These are the very people who are representing criminals free of charge.

Old Kai was heartened when he read a statement from the Alliance For Change expressing concern about crime in Guyana. But then reality dawned upon me, as these are the very people who are representing the criminals free of charge in their effort to get them to escape punishment for their crimes. Same thing can be said for the people in APNU, who are usually the first to turn up at a police station or the courts the moment a suspect has been arrested and charged. It does not matter if the individual was caught red handed or if investigations led the police to the suspect; they always manage to find an excuse why the accused should not be charged, and they are prepared to use their political clout to achieve their agenda.

Why this proclivity? Is there a link, a nexus? The answer is obvious to the average citizen: The current opposition in Guyana has a history of supporting and engaging in criminal activities.

The youths of today may not be aware of the infamous X13 terrorist plan hatched by the PNC to destroy our country. It was uncovered at their Congress Place Headquarters. The current Mayor of Georgetown and one time Ambassador of Peace, Hamilton Green, was a key component of that plan, and has detailed and operative knowledge of it. In hindsight, he has effectively managed to destroy our capital city with incompetents at City Hall since 1993.

The nation will also not forget the PNC draping the national flag of Guyana on the casket of notorious criminal Linden ‘Blackie’ London at the Square of the Revolution just over a decade ago.

We will never forget their post-election riots, when Georgetown was literally on fire and scores were targeted and beaten, robbed, and sexually assaulted.

Then there is their established link with the criminals during the crime wave of early 2000. The PNC — now APNU — leaders along with Nigel Hughes of the AFC proudly defended these criminals in court.

Just recently, we witnessed a national travesty when an accused in the Lusignan massacre was set free after the jury returned a not-guilty verdict despite the damning evidence by an accomplice.

No other than the AFC’s Nigel Hughes represented the accused, and we are told that he did so for free, or no charge. It was only after the massacre accused was freed that the nation found out about an established relationship between Nigel Hughes and a key member of the jury.

This very individual, who is also the Chairman of the AFC, publicly called for ‘no peace’ in our country as his party organised the violent disruptions along the East Bank public road at Agricola, wherein scores were targeted, beaten and robbed, and girls were sexually assaulted.

Guyanese vividly remember the images of the youths taking the order from the AFC for ‘no peace’ and attacking police ranks, even to the point where some of those ranks suffered injuries.

Both the AFC and APNU were the organisers of the violent protests in Linden, where scores were also beaten and robbed, and businesses burnt and infrastructure destroyed. The Independent Linden Commission of Inquiry was later critical of the opposition leaders for organising the illegal demonstrations and encouraging acts of criminality.

With all this in mind (taking into consideration that this is just a synopsis), does the opposition (AFC/APNU) think that their actions would encourage our youths to be law abiding citizens?

Old Kai remains convinced that the entire existence of our current opposition has been about breeding disregard for authority and the rule of law. The evidence is there to prove this! The most recent example is the High Court ruling that the AFC/APNU budget cuts were illegal, as the cuts were in contravention of our constitution. What did our ‘law abiding’ opposition do? They proudly announced that they would disregard the ruling of the High Court because they are apparently above the law.

What message is this sending to our youths, particularly those from families who are opposition supporters? They are being fed an opposition diet that it is ok to break the laws of our country, and if they are ever charged, their leaders will represent them free of cost and ensure they escape justice!

So if the opposition is going to point a finger at Government and blame it for the crime situation, they need to start paying attention to all their other fingers pointing back at them.