-President

President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday declared that wanted man Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins and his gang members will be hunted down by a unit that was specially set up and he insisted that the same group of men were behind both the Lusignan and Bartica slaughters.

At a press conference yesterday he also criticized PNCR Leader Robert Corbin for placing party members on “high alert” minutes after the national stakeholders meeting on security where he had agreed to support the Joint Services in carrying out their duties within the law.

Meanwhile the government has already made payments on two helicopters for the Joint Services, which are being purchased from Costa Rica and Texas, USA.

Speaking at the Office of the President, Jagdeo said engineers from the army had gone to look at the helicopters before they were paid for and it is expected that they would arrive in the country shortly. The helicopter on loan to Guyana from the government of Trinidad and Tobago is still in the country, beyond the two-week period it was initially loaned for.

Asked about his declaration that the gang involved in the Lusignan slaughter was the same one that had attacked Bartica, when Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee had said in Parliament that ballistics tests showed the same weapons were used at Lusignan, Sheribana and Better Hope, Jagdeo said that Rohee probably made a mistake and forgot to mention Bartica.

The President had made the declaration shortly after he had returned from overseas following the attack at Bartica in which 12 men were killed. He said the police provided him with the information about the linkage.

Speaking about the outcome of the stakeholders meeting on security and the subsequent statements by the PNCR, Jagdeo said it had been agreed that stakeholders would maintain the spirit of the discussions. He said he was concerned at the attempt by the PNCR to mislead people deliberately after committing to work together in the fight against crime.

He said he wished Corbin had placed supporters on high alert when all the criminal acts were being committed. “That time he did not place them on high alert. Now he wants to place them on high alert against the security forces,” he said.

He said the PNCR also misled people into thinking that he (Jagdeo) was the cause of former army officer Oliver Hinckson being arrested by the police, charging that he “fingered” him immediately after the Lusignan killings. Jagdeo contended that he spoke about a criminal but he did not mention a name.

“It could be many people. Hinckson sought to respond because he felt it was him,” he said, adding that it could have been anyone else.

Former soldier Dorian Massay, he said, was in training at the prestigious British military institution, Sandhurst, when he was caught stealing. According to the President, Massay was caught using one of his colleague’s credit cards. The matter, he said, came up before the Defence Board on five occasions. “We literally begged for him not to go to jail. We fired him from the army. He was deported from the UK for stealing from the officers’ course…” he said.

Another issue where he said Corbin misled the people was in relation to an issue which he raised at the stakeholders meeting about police arresting the PNCR supporters and some individuals and not receiving a satisfactory answer.

“I asked him ‘What do you want?'” Jagdeo said adding that he told Corbin that from the time the police went after someone, even before they started questioning a suspect, the PNCR would issue a press release and show up at the police station. If the party believes in professionalism, he said, it would allow the police to act instead of behaving like judge and jury, declaring who is guilty and who is innocent.

Interfere

In four recent arrests, he said, even before the police had taken their suspects to the station the PNCR had already intervened.

While the PNCR says that the executive should not interfere with the police, he said, the PNCR interferes from time to time, even when it did not know the circumstances (evidence and information) under which the arrests were made and whether or not the person arrested was a criminal, it declares that the person is innocent.

Jagdeo said he had asked Corbin how he knew those arrested were innocent and whether he would have found out from the police before issuing statements. He said Corbin responded that he had no problem with the police doing their duty but it was the manner in which they go about their arrests.

On the slaying of Marcyn King, sister of wanted man Rawlins, Jagdeo said the PNCR contended that the killing was evidence that hired gunmen were available. “I don’t know that,” the President said. “What I know is that the killing was reprehensible. Ms King should not pay for her brother’s crime. He is a criminal. We have to hunt him down with all the forces that we have. No innocent person should be killed because their brother or any member of their family is a criminal.”

If the PNCR has information, he said, it should be made available to the police. “They should not pump people up with rhetoric but should stick with the facts,” he said.

Stating that the PNCR offered unequivocal support to the Joint Services once they were operating within the boundaries of the law, he added, “They must not say one thing at the meeting and come out and do something else.”

On the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) statement calling for the dropping of the sedition charge against Hinckson, Jagdeo said the GHRA wants to act as judge and jury. He said he did not understand “these organizations which say they want to promote good governance”, coming to a conclusion without listening to or understanding both sides of the story.

Clarifying his statement that ex-soldiers were involved in criminal activities, Jagdeo said he would not say that of all the ex-servicemen, since 99% of them were busy earning a living and doing positive things. He said he was talking about criminals in general who were previously policemen, soldiers, fishermen or farmers.

“I don’t want to malign ex-servicemen. We should respect them,” he said.

However, he said, there was some evidence that some ex-servicemen might have been in contact with the criminal gangs. He said, “I know quite a few people who were helping these gangs, but again from the time they pick them up you see a battery of lawyers turn up.”

When asked why the members of the gang were still at large, he said that he has promised that the unit set up to hunt them will not be diverted to any other task until they are caught. “I am making that clear. This task would only end when we get them,” he declared adding that he could not say when that would be.

Assuring that the army has tightened up on its armoury, Jagdeo said there had always been a suspicion that the army had been losing ammunition. He said that it was only after former television talk show host and journalist Ronald Waddell was gunned down that he obtained a report from the former Chief of Staff, who said that Waddell had made contact with an army officer asking him to provide ammunition.

In relation to whether the recent killings at Lusignan and Bartica would affect participation at Carifesta billed for August this year in Guyana, Jagdeo said no Caribbean leader had questioned or expressed an opinion as to whether Guyana would be able to host the event on account of security.

He said he urged the countries to make sure they attended Carifesta, because its success would depend on the participation of the delegations across the region and extra-regionally.