FOLLOWING a flood of criticism, former President Bharrat Jagdeo has distanced the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) from the killing of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing.He told a mammoth gathering at the Kitty Market Square on Sunday that the ruling party did not benefit from the dastardly act, but said if the police find out who killed the ex-soldier, the nation will be shocked.

Crum-Ewing, a father of three who had resided at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, died as a result of three gunshot wounds sustained to his head and two to other parts of his body, delivered at point blank range, a post-mortem report said.
He was gunned down on March 10 in the upscale section of New Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara while using a bullhorn in encouraging residents to vote.
Dr Jagdeo, expressing disgust over the incident, said Crum-Ewing, whether he was a patriot or a criminal, did not deserve to die.
“But I was thinking again and I think this point has been made about who benefitted from this; definitely not the PPP, we have had the Kaieteur News cussing us every day and there were people who have done worse than walking around with a loud hailer cussing the PPP and nobody has touched them in this country. They are on TV every day, but who benefits from this? And then I couldn’t help but thinking that it sounds like a military thing,” the former President said.
Following the killing, some have blamed the Government for being the architect, but Dr Jagdeo said the real authors want ex-soldiers and policemen to get angry with the PPP/C, and they are using the tragedy to aid their whisper campaign in Afro villages, like they did in 2011.

TOOL TO MOBILISE
“They need something to whisper about to mobilise people, now, the police need to find out urgently who did this and I am telling you that if they do that, you will probably be shocked to find out who killed this guy. But they need things to campaign on; their message is about racism,” he said.
The former President told the massive gathering at Kitty that the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the controller of the A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Alliance, should not be taken for granted.
He said that they should not believe that the PNCR is “benign” and APNU+AFC Leader, retired Brigadier David Granger is harmless.
Dr Jagdeo said he respects Granger as a Guyanese, but contended that the Alliance Leader being unrepentant of the PNC’s past is disturbing.
“I will always respect Granger and everyone else, but because of his philosophy and policy, because of his unrepentant past, it is very dangerous. So today, it’s not about jumping up at this rally, it’s about our future, it’s about the future that we want to build, it’s about how much we are willing to give over the next 45 days to protect that future, and we need all of you to give, not only of the people of this platform to go to meetings,” he said.
PROPAGANDA
He also urged the gathering to stay strong and not to succumb to the Opposition propaganda.
“Bring out everyone, every single one of you must become an activist… like I would do, like all of us would do, you go to your neighbours and your friends, call your friends and go on Facebook and encourage every single person to come out on Elections Day and ensure that the PPP wins a resounding victory,” he urged.