HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said, yesterday, that while Cabinet is yet to make a full pronouncement on the report of the recently concluded Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the July 18 killings at the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge in Linden, it has endorsed the findings and has accepted the recommendations. But it is apprehensive as it relates to the lack of a comprehensive finding about culpability in the killings.
Speaking at his weekly media briefing, he drew reference to the fact that there was a comprehensive dismissal, by the Commissioners, of all the allegations made against Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.
Luncheon said the basis for the ongoing demonising of Rohee was inextricably linked to the Linden protest by his detractors “who made hay about an imagined role of the Minister” in relation to the July 18 mayhem.
According to the HPS, in Cabinet’s reflections on the Commissioners’ pronouncement on the Guyana Police Force (GPF), it was obvious that the CoI was judgmental and, indeed, critical of the overall Police performance.
Luncheon reminded that the Chairman of the Commission, former Jamaican Chief Justice Lensely Wolfe, in his remarks at the inception, spoke of evidence and “led us all to believe that this was based on evidence, sworn testimony, the rule of law and such like.”

FOOL OURSELVES
“I don’t think we should fool ourselves and believe that the acceptance was uniformly…,” he told reporters yesterday.
He said some of the recommendations were grudgingly accepted “with a grain of salt, particularly the findings about the Police Force.”
Luncheon declared that comprehensive culpability was not established and he posited also that the Commissioners’ insinuation was that “we don’t have any reason to blame anyone else and, therefore, it had to be you the police.”
He made reference to the conclusions arrived at by the Commissioners, in relation to the Minister of Home Affairs, when they said that Minister Rohee was categorically exonerated.
Luncheon also pointed to the recommendations made by the Commission for the GPF and reminded that the Administration did not have to await the report to begin implementing reforms.
On the issue of compensation recommended for the persons killed, he maintained that it was made outside of established culpability but would be accepted. (Gary Eleazar)