A SENIOR teacher attached to the Tapakuma Primary School is mulling legal action against the Region Two village leader, after he was “wrongfully” arrested by Essequibo police over a poster.
According to Fenton Williams, on Saturday, he was told that a poster was placed at the village office and the persons responsible wrote several “allegations “against the village captain.”
He said that he took a picture of the poster for his own record.
Later in the day he said he was at the primary school preparing for the new school term on Monday, when he overheard a woman nearby mention that a councillor from the village was at the Anna Regina Police Station.
He said he spoke to the woman and was informed that the councillor was arrested in connection with the poster, which alleged that the toshao was involved in illicit activities.
Williams said three police ranks visited the area and spoke to several residents soon after. He later left for his home. Minutes later, in full view of his little son, the three ranks arrived at his home and informed him that he was under arrest.
Williams said he questioned the ranks as to what offence he was being arrested in connection with and he was told that it was connected to an allegation he had made against the village’s toshao.
He said he asked the ranks if they possessed a warrant and soon after, one of the uniformed ranks grabbed him by his shoulder and told him to enter the police vehicle.
He said he felt humiliated, since the incident occurred in full view of his son and other residents.
According to Williams, he decided to accompany the ranks to the police station and after sometime, he was told by an officer there that the matter was relative to the Village Council and should be dealt with accordingly.
“This is a village issue, and I don’t have any clue or information relative to the poster,” he said, pointing out that the toshao acted outside his authority.
The village councillor arrested earlier was also released. Williams said while at the Anna Regina Police Station, he asked the village leader to pay his passage, lunch and for the time “wasted”; but the man was unresponsive.
Williams said he plans to take action by approaching the courts, citing the village leader’s use of “excessive force.” Calls by this publication to the number provided for Toshao James Schaad were unsuccessful.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that the village council at Tapakuma was not functioning as residents expected and persons were upset at the manner in which it is being run.
At the moment, the council is headed by the toshao and three councillors; several councillors have resigned, residents said.
A call was made on Saturday for the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs to investigate the council’s operations.
