A second year Law Student of the University of Guyana, who sells pizza to fund his studies, was presented with a laptop by President David Granger’s Political Adviser, Dr. Mark Kirton in memory of the late Yohance Douglas who was gunned down by police back in March 1, 2003.

The 22-year-old Joshua Edward was presented with the laptop on Sunday. He told the Guyana Chronicle that the device will assist him in the advancement of his legal studies. “It will help me out essentially, fundamentally with my UG assignments because the previous laptop that I had was very slow,” Edward told Guyana Chronicle.

The aspiring lawyer said he was motivated to start his own business last December after coming to the sad realisation that he had no money to pay his tuition fees. Though, a donor stepped in at the eleventh hour and paid his fee, Edward was determined not to have history repeat itself and as such, with the backing of his mother began to sell pizza. “From the beginning of January, I told my mother, ‘mommy you will make the pizzas and we will go around selling it. She makes it and I get them sold,” he shared.

Dr. Kirton, former Dean of the Faulty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana, said the donation was made in commemoration of Yohance Douglas’ 17th Death Anniversary. At the age of 18, Douglas was shot death by the Black Clothes Squad on March 1st, 2003. “Every year as I think about Yohance and his tragic death, I reflect on youth and how life has been over the years. His life and that of other youths were snuffed out without allowing them to reach the zenith of their capacity and their capabilities,” the Presidential Adviser said. According to Dr. Kirton he was moved by Edward’s story, particularly his passion of ensuring that his dream of empowerment is realized.

In honour of Yohance Douglas
Douglas was killed on Saturday, March 1, 2003. Reports were that Douglas was among five friends, O’Neil King, Kwesi Heywood, Randolph Goodluck and Ronson Grey who proceeded for a casual drive after basketball practice. They proceeded along the Eastern Highway and ended up at the junction of Sheriff and Bonasika Streets after stopping at Mr Lee’s Mathematics lesson for a check on a family member.

Upon their exit from Bonasika Street, they were stopped by a Green CRV occupied by men with no explicit identification, who instructed them to exit their car. The men who later were identified as members of the Guyana Police Force opened fire on the White Toyota Sprinter, PHH 8115 which carried Douglas and his friends. When the gun-powdered smoke had cleared, Douglas was left with the brunt of the assault. Reports by material eyewitnesses suggest that the rogue policemen rushed Douglas to the hospital after planting a wig in his pants pocket and told the hospital staff that the second-year University of Guyana Architecture student was injured in a shootout during a robbery attempt.

Douglas subsequently succumbed to spinal injuries and blunt trauma. His life was snuffed out in one fell swoop at the barrel of the gun. He was laid to rest on March 11 at the Beterverwagting burial ground. His death shocked the Guyanese people and some who were imbued with a sense of classism, presumed that model, educated citizens are immune to excesses of the state. Commentators have said that the execution of Douglas was the culmination of a long series of executions that beset a nation filled with ghosts and Phantoms who operated with mortiferous immunity. This can be traced to the post-1992 period with the emergence of the ‘Black clothes’ or ‘Target Squad’. In those days, there was a penchant for small groups of members of the Guyana Police Force who were answerable only to the political directorate. President David Granger has referred to this period as the ‘Troubles’ what he called the descent of this country during the Bharrat Jagdeo administration.

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.