ALLIANCE For Change (AFC) General Secretary, Marlon Williams, said the party is concerned about the frequent bomb threats being made to educational institutions in the capital city – Georgetown.

In recent times, threats have been issued to School of the Nations, Queen’s College, Bishops High School, Mae’s School and the University of Guyana, resulting in these institutions being forced to close their doors. They have also implemented heightened security measures to safeguard their students, teachers and other staff members.

“There is a terrorist element in society attempting to threaten a key institution in the development of Guyana. That is, namely the educational institution. We, in the strictest of terms at the Alliance For Change, would like to condemn all such action,” Williams told reporters at the party’s head office.

He said AFC has noted that all levels of education seem to be the target, and it looks forward to a speedy investigation and resolution to the issue.

Williams said too that the AFC has also recognised that on social media there are a number of speculations that the threats are politically engineered. “We would like, if this is so, that all persons that are part of this engineering of such action, desist with immediate effect,” he urged.

He said the growth of the country’s democracy must continue to grow, noting that only by that growth in democracy Guyana will become a viable and successful nation.
AFC’s statement on the issue comes days after niece of a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) official, 25-year-old Sheneza Jafferally, was remanded to prison for allegedly threatening to blow up sections of the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus.

The Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara resident and University of Guyana student, pleaded not guilty to the charge of misuse of a telecommunication device when she appeared in court on Monday.

Particulars of the charge alleged that on February 5 at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, Jafferally, sent by means of a public telecommunication device system, for the purpose of causing needless anxiety to the staff and students of the UG, a message which she knows to be false.

Jafferally’s cell phone and all other electronic devices in her Cummings Lodge home, was confiscated by the police.

Police Prosecutor, Inspector Gordon Mansfield, objected to Jafferally being granted her pre-trial liberty since she intended to spread public terror and he further highlighted the seriousness of the charge.

According to a source, based on the investigations conducted by the police, a telephone number belonging to the student was linked to the number from which the bomb threats were allegedly made to the university.

Jafferally, who goes by the nickname ‘Shelly’, is the niece of former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Region Six Member of Parliament (MP) and current Region Five Campaign Manager, Faizal Jafferally.