Dear Editor
THE sudden death of former Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Ronald Gajraj at the age of 65 is understandably being met with drastically different reactions from a cross-section of Guyanese.

For his family, former Presidents Ramotar and Jagdeo and many of his political colleagues and supporters, the lament is “gone too soon.” For a huge part of the Guyana population at home and abroad, as well as for the family and loved ones of the 400 Guyanese who were extra-judicially killed under the political watch of Mr. Ronald Garaj, the lament is “took too long to go.”

And for as long as the truth of that ghastly period remains shrouded in secrecy, lies and cover-ups, there will be no national reconciliation. And until there is reconciliation, the epitaph over Ronald Gajraj, indelibly etched in the memory of Guyanese, will
be “gone… but not forgotten.”

Regardless of how the legacy of the late Ronald Gajraj has affected you, or whether it has affected you at all, extra-judicial killings under the direction of, or with the tacit approval of an elected

representative of the people, is State-sponsored Terrorism. This guts every fundamental fibre of the rule of law which reserves state punishment for those found guilty in a court of law, after due process has been exhausted.

In the periods before and after the Ronald Gajraj era, Guyana has demonstrated its allegiance to the rule of law, and from this commitment we must never flinch. When in 1961, the PPP, under the leadership of Dr. Cheddi Jagan allegedly instituted the politically savvy but socially divisive philosophy of “Apan Jat” that led to Indo-Guyanese using their numerical superiority to obtain political power in Guyana, it also sowed the seed of Civil War between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. Aided by the visible disparity in the rate of wealth accumulation between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese, Guyana has continued to be a racially divided society.

Against that background, when, under the watch of a majority Indo-Guyanese government, 400 predominantly Afro-Guyanese were killed in a short period while “holed up in Buxton”, it is impossible not to associate this with deep-seated racism and an associated political vendetta. But because this is at best a strongly evidence-based suspicion, a nationally transparent investigation monitored by international observers continues to be a pre-requisite for the national reconciliation that we need.

But there is another side to the story. Crime is a scourge to every society and must be eradicated by the society within the provisions of the laws of that society. The social scourge of crime has its roots in poverty, inadequate education, politically motivated and/or drug-turf fuelled feuds, and the self-perpetuating
desire for reprisals. Understanding the nature of a problem is a pre-requisite for solving the problem. But regardless of the motivation or the anatomy of crime, it remains a social scourge; and

those who pursue a life of crime, and especially gun-related crime must always entertain a reasonable expectation to die by the gun. Our policemen who, in an encounter with armed criminals, face the grim choice of “kill or be killed” will, and must kill. Members of our society who harbour criminals under a range of pretences must understand that they are accomplices of the criminals, and are part of the opposition to the rule of law.

As a nation, education and economic opportunities must be made available to all, and those who to date have lagged behind, must be given a monitored “helping hand” to “catch up” with the rest of our

society. Equal rights and justice for all demand nothing less. For so long as we are divided by any social, economic, ethnic or other external standard, we will fall, and only when united will we stand.

President Granger apparently no longer thinks it politically correct or expedient to pursue his commitment to shine a searchlight on the atrocities of the Ronald Gajraj era. But until there is reconciliation or God-inspired forgiveness among Guyanese regarding the 400 extra-judicial killings committed under the watch of the former Minister of Home Affairs, Guyana and its projected attainment of greatness will be reduced to limping forward, instead of leaping forward.

Regards
Phyllis J. Jordan
Caretaker-Councillor – Constituency Four