Probe into Jagdeo-era killings still on front burner …Harmon says govt awaiting completion of ongoing CoIs
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

GOVERNMENT remains committed to providing closure to the families of the hundreds of Guyanese killed during the 2002-2008 crime wave, State Minister Joseph Harmon has said. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, Harmon said that the issue is on the “front burner” for the government but with all of the Commission of Inquiries ongoing; it is a matter of the “allocation of government resources.” “The President has said, and remains committed, that there must be an inquiry into the killings… they are serious crimes,” said Harmon who only on Tuesday asserted that government will be taking up an offer by the United States to access the testimony of convicted drug trafficker, Shaheed Roger Khan.
Harmon told this newspaper that the new government has not forgotten its promise to the people and will make good on them. “We have not given up…it is on the front burner where the President is concerned… we want to bring closure to the families,” the Minister of State added. Harmon said such investigations are important, noting that people must be held accountable for crimes committed.
Granger, in August like Harmon had said that the extra-judicial killings that had beleaguered the nation during the 2002-2008 periods must be investigated thoroughly. The President had said that his government is currently in the process of ensuring that there is an efficient and effective Coroner Department in place to investigate the crimes of that period. He stressed that all cases must be investigated as every loss of life is worrisome. Harmon assured that “it is going to happen; I can’t say when… as you know we have several inquiries on-going…but it has to happen.”
But while government remains adamant that the investigations must be done, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has raised concerns. The party has questioned the value of conducting investigations only within the period outlined by the administration. It noted that the government should launch investigations dating back to the 1970s. Broadening and the scope of extrajudicial killings, the party said is important to a thorough investigation. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had accused the APNU/AFC coalition of being selective in its calls for investigations and suggested instead that the probe be done into all the murders and all the missing weaponry. “We should have an inquiry into everything, maybe the mother of all inquiries,” Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had said. The opposition party has also called on government to examine the findings of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
On Monday, new U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway, was asked whether Washington would facilitate handing over testimony given by Khan during his trial. Holloway told reporters that there are certain agreements that exist both through the UN, the OAS, “and quite possibly Guyana, (which) do allow that in certain cases, if the rules and regulations of the agreement are done with Guyana, or we have signed up under the UN or OAS to allow for such a thing, we would be sure to be disposed to cooperating within the framework of the rule of law.”
He added that a lot of time the requirements for such requests are pretty high for what you have to be able to provide to be able to go further. “We don’t allow fishing expeditions, we actually need something sort of concrete and (that) we could see on paper and touch; but within the agreements that we have — and we have done multilateral or international forums — we cooperate with any country in the world,” he said. Quizzed on the U.S. offer, Harmon told Guyana Chronicle on Monday: “Definitely! We would have an interest in what came out of the trial because it points to some levels of collusion with the past administration and the criminal elements; that is where the evidence is. If it is there, we would be happy to have it, because they have always said, ‘where is the evidence? Where is it?’ Well, that is where it is, and if that is where it is, we will go and get it and let the Guyanese people know who was doing what at that time,” Harmon declared.
Back in 2003-2006 Khan, had set up a criminal network here, including active policemen and a number of former ranks, ostensibly to go after criminals, but at the same time protecting his narco-trafficking interests. He was nabbed in neighbouring Suriname in 2006 while fleeing local police, and was later handed over to U.S. authorities. Although the PPP Government has sought to distance itself from Khan, the drug trafficker had stated publicly in an advertisement in local newspapers that he was fighting crime on behalf of the Bharrat Jagdeo-led government. Khan had also implicated former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy in his escapades, and documents bearing the then minister’s signature authorising the purchase of a sophisticated wiretapping device were produced in U.S. courts during Khan’s trial.

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