…Jagdeo says ready to answer questions

LEADER of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Member of Parliament, Bishop Juan Edghill have both welcomed the announcement by President David Granger to launch a full inquiry into the deaths of the hundreds of Guyanese, including the former Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh.

Back in 2017, Jagdeo had said he welcomes a CoI into the extra-judicial killings that occurred during the period 2002-2009. Jagdeo reiterated his sentiments following Minister of State, Joseph Harmon’s recent announcement that there is a possibility that President David Granger will soon launch a CoI into those killings. “I would love for there to be a CoI into the troubled period, but it should be extended beyond the past and they should bring it up to the future…I even indicated to the president that I am ready to work with him on the terms of reference,” said the opposition leader.

Jagdeo went on to say that any member of the party would be ready to provide evidence once they can. “If there is something we know specifically then yes, we would… for instance, during my tenure as president, a confession statement was shown to me by a police [officer] who had received it from the girlfriend of one of the criminals who went to Sat Sawh’s place,” said Jagdeo.

He said there were lots of reports from soldiers and the police that reached his office when he was president. He believes that there were political hands behind some of the extra-judicial killings, so the CoI would shed light on those issues. “We should have it by all means but again there should be proper terms of reference and credible commissioners,” said Jagdeo.

Jagdeo was President of Guyana from August 11, 1999, to December 3, 2011, during which there were three massacres: Lusignan, where 11 people were killed, Bartica, where another 12 were killed and Lindo Creek, where seven miners were slaughtered. Besides, there were countless extra-judicial killings, with some activists estimating that around 400 Afro-Guyanese males were gunned down. Back in 2003-2006, convicted drug-trafficker Shaheed Roger Khan had set up a criminal network here, including active policemen and a number of former ranks, ostensibly to go after criminals, but at the same time protecting his narco-trafficking interests. He was nabbed in neighbouring Suriname in 2006 while fleeing local police, and was later handed over to U.S. authorities. Although the PPP government had sought to distance itself from Khan, the drug-trafficker had stated publicly in an advertisement in local newspapers that he was fighting crime on behalf of the Jagdeo-led government. Khan had also implicated former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy in his escapades, and documents bearing the then minister’s signature authorising the purchase of a sophisticated wire-tapping device were produced in U.S. courts during Khan’s trial.

Meanwhile, Edghill expressed similar sentiments on Friday evening during a remembrance and inter-faith service hosted by the Indian Action Committee (IAC) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Lusignan massacre, where 11 persons from the village were killed in their homes. The Opposition parliamentarian spoke keenly during his address about the statement made by President David Granger at the opening ceremony of the Annual GDF Officers’ Conference at Base Camp Ayanganna earlier this week. “I welcomed such a call and I want to herald that! This country needs to know exactly what happened here! This county needs to know who the intellectual authors of what transpired here are! This county needs to know who gave supper [sic] and support — and who provided the ideology of those who carried out his ghastly act that took place here 10 years ago,” Edghill stressed.

He added that the inquiries into these deaths must be free from political interference and carried out by persons with a mandate to carry out their duties without fear and favour. “I look forward to an independent inquiry that is not directed by political influences for us to get to the bottom so that healing and reconciliation could come to our country,” the former Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission noted. Edghill explained that the country needs answers on what really happened and the reason behind these senseless killings, adding that it must not be left for mere political statements and to be used politically and conveniently by some.

“Those who came here predetermined for mayhem, murder and to drive fear into our country… by no means could any person in their right minds have said that this was for the purpose of a robbery, because the people who lived here didn’t have much,” Edghill said as he emphasised on the persons killed during the Lusignan massacre.
He further called on the government to bring back the Ethnic Relations Commission which was off the grid for the past years and which he believes would help in addressing these situations.

Minister Harmon at a post-Cabinet media briefing on Friday recalled that at the 10th Parliament, the President, who was then leader of the Opposition, had filed a motion to investigate, among others, the killing of former Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh and the massacres at Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creek. “In that motion, he was asking the National Assembly to call on the government to establish an inquiry into these killings,” Minister Harmon recalled. He noted that up until now there is no closure for many of the cases.

According to him, it is important to bring closure to the wounds that have been opened.
While delivering the feature address at the Annual Officers’ Conference at Base Camp Ayanganna last Thursday, President Granger said his administration will ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. “Society has been scarred by violence, which left a lingering legacy of distrust with the potential of fresh disorder. Monuments at Bartica, Buxton and Eve Leary have been erected to the victims of violence during the ‘Troubles’ between 2002 and 2009. We still have an obligation to investigate those troubles and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice,” he said.

During most of the decade referred to by the Head of State, Guyana witnessed its most intense, sustained wave of criminal violence since independence. According to the President, there were 1,431 murders during that decade. In 2016, he had said that the previous administration never bothered to account to the nation for the hundreds of lives lost through criminal violence.

“It refused even to conduct inquests into the assassination of its own Minister of Agriculture at La Bonne Intention; of the Head of the Police Force’s Target Special Squad on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; of the Deputy Head of the Customs [Anti]-Narcotics Unit in Buxton and of the attempted assassination of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Kitty. “It refused to conduct inquiries into the massacres in Agricola, Bagotstown-Eccles, Bartica, Bourda, Campbellville, Kitty, Lamaha Gardens, Lindo Creek, Lusignan and elsewhere. A generation of Guyanese – which was an unwilling witness to criminal violence – has now grown up. The agony, anger and alienation caused by violence against citizens, especially the innocent and the young, still simmer. The crimes have not been explained. The memories have not been erased,” the President had noted.