THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is in full support of the Joint Services, and is pleased with their ability to avert what could have been a major disaster, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said on Wednesday.
“We are in full support of our security forces to restore normalcy to our country in these difficult times. It was by their action, quick action that we averted what could have been potentially an even bigger disaster,” Jagdeo told reporters during a press conference at his Church Street Office.
Jagdeo’s comments come at a time when the country is still dealing with the aftermath of the Georgetown Prison Riot, which resulted in the 133-year-old prison being reduced to rubble, and the tragic death of a Prison Warder, Odinga Wickham, on Sunday. Eight high profile criminals, including the notorious Mark Royden Williams, had managed to escape. Despite the prevailing situation, the security forces skillfully relocated the more than 1000 prisoners under heightened security to the Lusignan Prison on the East Coast of Demerara.
The Opposition Leader, on behalf of the PPP, also expressed condolences to the family of Wickham while wishing the other hospitalised prison officers a speedy recovery. Wickham was shot multiple times about the body and succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The injured prison officers are Hubert Trim; Simeon Sandy, who has injuries about the body but was treated and discharged; Peter Gonsalves, who received chop wounds and is still hospitalised; Jason Maltay, who was shot in the right leg and is still in hospital; Earl Bathness, who was shot to the left shoulder and was treated and discharged.
The injured prisoners have been identified as Keron Cummings, who is nursing a gunshot wound and remains hospitalised, and Marcus Anthony, called “Wild Buck”, who was shot in the left foot and is also hospitalised.
Jagdeo told reporters that the Opposition has no intention of politicising the tragic event, events thereafter but is disappointed in the Government’s response to the situation. “Photo opportunities, press conferences, public statements are meaningless unless they are backed by substance,” he posited.
The Opposition Leader complained that while the Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, has indicated that Government had acted on some of the recommendations listed in the 2016 Prison Commission of Inquiry (COI) that report is still to be made available for public scrutiny.
“At this point in time, no one with the exception of a privileged few has access to that report, so they had a Commission of Inquiry, they had several recommendations arising from the COI but they have not been implemented.”
Additionally, Jagdeo expressed concerns that the Government is setting a precedence that may cause harm in the future. He emphasised that government is creating a moral hazard. According to him, the situation was further compounded when the Government announced that its emergency measures include the implementation of legal measures to immediately reduce the prison population. “If government felt that there were some people who were in prison that should not have been there, they should have implemented these measures before we had the fire.”
“I don’t know if the executive is giving instructions to the judiciary now, so we have to find out where the instructions to the magistrates came from,” he added. These questions the Opposition Leader emphasised ought to be answered.