ATTORNEY General Anil Nandlall yesterday said the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is maintaining “most resolutely” that there is a historical

connection between criminal elements in society and major political leaders and actors in the Opposition.Speaking at a news conference yesterday at the party’s Freedom House headquarters on Robb Street, Nandlall, who is also Legal Affairs Minister, said the party is therefore calling upon the combined Opposition to remove their “mask of deception” and reveal the real motives behind their non-support of the country’s security sector.
Citing incidents to support such connections, Nandlall pointed to the five sugar workers who disappeared on the East Coast Demerara, along with all of the violence that erupted after the 1992, 1997, and 2001 elections. “All arose directly out of protest actions taken by the Opposition in this country,” he declared.
Furthermore, he spoke about the People’s National Congress (PNC) sponsoring the funeral of notorious criminal Linden ‘Blackie’ London who was captured and killed by the authorities and recalled how the PNC draped the Guyana flag across the coffin and marched with it in the streets.
Nandlall also recalled the connection between the Buxton gangs and PNC leaders who went into the village to meet with criminals at all hours. He recalled, too, the recording of the conversation between a former Commissioner of Police, who is now a member of parliament, and the PNC Vice-Chairman.

“The repeated and constant attacks, to which every Home Affairs Minister of our Government has been subjected, and the years of onslaught which the Opposition have unleashed upon the Guyana Police Force, especially its most effective officers and crime fighting units, for example, TSU or the Black Clothes squad, which eventually led to its disbandment, are matters of public record.”
Questioned by Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris whether the PPP does not also have links to criminals, Nandlall responded: “We have no historical…or any link with any form of criminal enterprise. In fact, PPP supporters invariably are the victims of the onslaught which resulted from those attacks.”

ONLY TWO SIDES
Just last week, the Alliance For Change (AFC) reiterated its position that they will not support any bill or proposal brought by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee to the National Assembly, on the basis that they have no confidence in the minister.
Nandlall said such a position by the AFC is “not only illogical, irresponsible and immature”, but it demonstrates clearly, once again, that the Opposition is no longer using Parliament to advance the welfare of Guyana and its people but is using it as a forum to settle personal grudges and to orchestrate agendas of vendetta, even if it is to the detriment of all Guyanese, including their own supporters.
“Therefore, no matter how effective a particular bill may be in combating crime, no matter how potent a crime fighting policy may be, the Opposition would reject it because Clement Rohee is the Home Affairs Minister! How political leaders can reduce the nation’s security and the safety of the Guyanese people to such childish games is, indeed, incomprehensible,” Nandlall remarked.
He observed that in the war against crime, there are but only two sides. “You either stand on the side of the law and the law abiding, or you stand on the side of crime and the criminals. The Opposition parties  have repeatedly chosen the side of crime and the criminals. We say that this must end now!”

FIREARMS BILL
Minister Nandlall said AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan’s statement that he will bring back the Firearms Bill to the National Assembly is clear proof that they recognise the importance of the bill.
“Yet they rejected it! Why? Because  they did not like the minister who tabled it.  The citizens of this country were, therefore, denied the protection of this law, the law enforcement agencies of the land were denied the use of this law as a crime fighting measure, because of the Opposition’s capricious and whimsical dislike of the minister who tabled it.
“We call upon right thinking Guyanese to rise up and say to the Opposition, loud and clear, that the one seat majority, which they hold in the National Assembly, is held at the people’s pleasure and must at all times be used for and in the best interest of all Guyanese and not at the fancy and caprice of personal likes and dislikes of the opposition.”