— to investigate plot to shoot President Granger

MINISTER of State Joseph Harmon said Government is confident that the Guyana Police Force will conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged plot to shoot President David Granger, contending that those responsible will be brought to justice.
“We have the confidence that the police will do a thorough investigation of the matter and those who are found culpable should be brought before the court and be dealt with in accordance with the law,” Minister Harmon said.
The minister of state made the statement while responding to a wide range of questions put to him during a ministerial outreach on Sunday at the Den Amstel Primary School, West Coast Demerara.

Like Government, the minister said Guyanese should be confident of the security forces ability to protect nation, be it the Guyana Police Force or the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in protecting the territorial integrity of the country.
“We have to have the confidence in our security forces to do a good investigation. We have to have the confidence in our security forces to protect His Excellency the President, to protect his ministers, and to protect all of us as a nation for that matter,” he posited.
While making it clear that there was never an attempt on the life of President Granger, but rather an allegation of a plot, Minister Harmon said the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the police legal advisor are assisting with the investigation.
In conducting its investigations and operations, he said support from communities is critical for the police, noting that residents should be vigilant.

“We have to work with them [the police] and provide them with information, because the police don’t act out of some notion that they have in their heads, they have to act on information provided by the community,” the minister of state emphasised.

TWO PERSONS INTERVIEWED
Since informing the nation that Government has received information from the police about an alleged plot to shoot the President, Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud disclosed that two persons were interviewed in connection with the matter.
Additionally, an individual had made public disclosures during an interview on Nightly News regarding the plot. The man, in question, said he was approached to carry out the act at a cost of $7M.
The $7M it was said was offered by a prominent individual. The whistleblower in the interview stated that the businessman told him “… President Granger, we have to have him assassinated before he moves from where he is living, before of course if he moves his security will enhance and you can’t get to him.”
The informant explained that the businessman entered his house and brought out a large weapon which he collected and minutes later returned.
He explained he had approached the businessman to conduct a business worth $6M, when the proposal was made to find someone to assassinate the President and he will be paid $7M.

“The next day I go back to he and said watch, me ain’t deh in them thing yo know, me ain’t even want you tell me back about that,” the informant said, claiming that he never killed anyone before and is just a “businessman.”
Meanwhile, in his opening remarks, Minister Harmon told the residents that contrary to critics who are suggesting that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will be closed under the watch of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government, sugar is here to stay. However, he said, tough decisions will be made.
“The PPP was afraid to make the hard choices with respect to sugar…. It is our plan to ensure that the sugar industry is restructured to ensure that sugar remains what it is today, a major foreign exchange earner and a major employment of people,” Minister Harmon stated.
Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, who had conducted a similar outreach at Bagotsville earlier that day; former Prime Minister and former Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green; and APNU+AFC Member of Parliament John Adams were among officials in attendance.