CABINET has welcomed the onset of the Linden Commission of Inquiry (COI) but noted the “odd snipings of discontent” over what appears to be rather “dismissible gripes” by the Opposition.

So said Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, yesterday, at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
According to him, the “odd snipings” include the selection of the attorneys, the site of sitting of the commission, the duration of time for the submission of statements from the witnesses and a few other issues.
He pointed out that, more recently, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) publicly requested that the Terms of Reference (TORs), the same that all were aware of and allowed for the inputs, support and confidence of the parliamentary political parties, be amended.
The COI into the last July 18 shooting at the Mackenzie Bridge in Linden, where three persons – Shemroy Bouyea, Ron Somerset and Allan ‘Lyndon’ Lewis – lost their lives in protest over proposed electricity tariff hikes, commenced last Monday at the High Court Law Library building in Georgetown.
The Commissioners are Chairman Lensley Wolfe, Dana Seetahal, K.D. Knight, Cecil Kennard and Claudette Singh.
Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes is looking into the interest of the dead trio while other lawyers Hukumchand and Peter Hugh are representing the Guyana Police Force GPF), and Mohammed Khan and Dawn Holder-Alert are representatives of the Guyana Bar Association. Basil Williams, Joseph Harmon and James Bond are appearing for APNU.
The proceedings began with Chairman Wolfe clearly outlining the TORs and the procedure the inquiry would adopt.
Acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell was the first to testify.