THE Alliance For Change (AFC) party has emphasised its deep concern over the protracted nature of the negotiations between Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) administration and the Government of Guyana and what appears to be hurdles and difficulties being thrown into the way of getting the ballistics expert contracted to come here to carry out tests, following the fatal shooting of three persons at Linden on July 18 last. Addressing a press Conference at the Side Walk Cafe Wednesday, AFC’s chairman Mr. Nigel Hughes made the party’s concerns known and where exactly it stands.
“In relation to the Commission of Enquiry, we are extremely disappointed that the August 2 deadline originally promised has not been met,” Hughes told reporters, adding that, to date  there has been absolutely no indication of when there will be further discussions on the matter.
Hughes said that, of even greater concern to the party, is the fact that there seems to have been a complete halt to the police investigation.  Moreover, he said, here have been some serious statements coming out of the Crime Chief, indicating that there somehow might have been phantom shooters located where the police were, that might have been responsible for the shooting.
That, he considered to be a very, very dangerous development,  and expressed disappointment that, the criminal investigations which ought to have been finished by now, well into the end of the third week have not been completed, with no arrests having yet been made. “We are concerned that the officers who were involved in that event are still in the force. They haven’t been interdicted; they continue to serve,” Mr. Hughes declared.
Meanwhile, the party is further concerned about what appears to be hurdles being thrown in the way of their efforts to get the ballistics expert here to conduct tests.  Having retained the services of the specialist, Hughes said, what is frustrating their efforts is that he cannot as yet get a work permit.
Even though a work permit takes about three to four weeks to be processed, nothing seems to be happening for him. The Attorney said he contacted the Commissioner of Police and the Crime Chief, hoping to have the matter expedited, and was advised to furnish photo copies of the expert’s passport and other documentation which they did.   However, they were later advised that the expert has to first arrive in Guyana, before being issued with the work permit.
However, the party is not comfortable with inviting the ballistics expert into the country without a work permit. “I do not wish to be placed in the embarrassing position of inviting an expert to the country here, without a work permit and put him in a difficult situation, and more importantly, the AFC does not want to cause him to be embarrassed,” Hughes reiterated.,
The AFC executive said his party would like to have all these obstacles addressed long before the respected gentleman gets here. “For me, his visit to Guyana should be, as soon as possible; he should conduct the examination which I don’t believe would exceed three to four hours, then he leaves.”
Meanwhile, addressing the matter of the ongoing protest action which continues to see Lindeners blocking the main thoroughfare running through the mining town, Mr. Moses Nagamoottoo, expressed misgivings about an open letter he said was issued by President Jagdeo to the Lindeners on the issue.
Nagamoottoo was of the view that, such a letter, in which [he claims] some people responding to the Linden issue are alluded to as ‘extremists’, constitutes, not only a hindrance to peace and orderliness in relation to the resolution of the problem, but could very well fuel the problem. He reiterated that, a letter in which people are dubbed as ‘extremists’ and almost ‘trouble-makers’, could only help to expand the area of conflict.
Moreover, Nagamootto who said, the letter contained mixed signals and felt strongly that the President should have visited the people of  Linden and had dialogue with them, rather than communicate through an open letter. He also expressed disappointment over the fact that, according to him, “Mr. Ramotar has not acted on a ‘No confidence’ vote against the Home Affairs Minister, and approved in the National Assembly” among other things.
The AFC felt that, one way of easing the tension, might have been to withdraw the Minister of Home Affairs from the centre of focus at the moment.
Nagamoottoo also charged the President of using a ‘zero sum’ action or tactic, which tells the people of Linden that, unless they remove the blockade from the roads, he would not be visiting them to hear their concerns. He supports the theory that people have to be met half-way, to show that some concession is being made.
He concluded, “We in the Alliance for Change want to say very clearly, that the centre of the problem is at Linden, and that we recognise, just as anybody else recognises, that Linden is the artery to very strategic areas in Guyana;  That the noise that is being made that ‘business is being affected; livelihood is being affected’ we understand.”  He said the AFC empathises with people and does not want anyone to suffer unduly.  However, they are saying to the people of other regions and to indigenous people as well, that this is their legitimate activity in defence of their livelihood.