Government while expressing condolences on the death of three men during the police’s armed response to the Linden protesters on July 18 said that a call for the removal of Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee will achieve nothing but prejudice the outcome of the commission of inquiry into the incident.
This was during a debate yesterday on a motion expressing no confidence in Rohee, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition David Granger.
Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman ruled yesterday that the motion was properly before the House, being brought by Granger.
Debate on the motion is set to continue on Monday and all 32 members of the government benches are expected to speak on the highly-charged and controversial motion. Rohee was present for the debate.
“Today Linden is listening to every word spoken in this House. Today the House has embarked on the road to enhance our democracy. This motion is not about Government and Opposition…PPP/C on one side and APNU and AFC on the other…it is about the kind of society we want,” he said.
“We are talking about the shooting of people. We are talking about the dead,” he said.
“This House must stand up for the humanity of its people,” Granger said. “This motion turns on the duty of this National Assembly to represent the hundreds of thousands who voted for us,” he said.
“We cannot sit on our hands and allow this to go on,” he said.
“When you see bodies not yet cold you ask yourselves what could have led to this? Somebody has to be held responsible,” he said. “It is not an accident. It is not misadventure. Something went badly wrong,” he said.
He asked why it was that tear gas or the water cannon was not used to disperse the crowd on July 18. “This is not the time to blame the corporals or the police commissioners. This is the time for the minister to step down and take responsibility. This is not Baghdad or Damascus,” he said. “It did not have to come to this,” he declared.
He said the age of cover up is over. “The age of police brutality is over. We have no confidence in the ability of the Minister to protect the citizens of this country,” he said.
AFC Member of Parliament Cathy Hughes said the senseless killings have placed a further strain on the image of the country.
“The issue today is not about increase in electricity rates but the right of persons to protest,” she said.
She called for a review of the use of force by the Police when confronting unruly crowds. She said the millions spent on equipment was to no avail as these pieces were not used to control the crowd.
“If we don’t put a stop to this it will become the modus operandi of the Police,” Hughes said. She said that resigning is the only honourable thing that the Minister could do.
Speaking on the motion, Attorney General Anil Nandlall made the point that a call for the minister to go prejudices the outcome of the already agreed upon commission of inquiry. “If we are truly concerned then we need not adopt postures which would attempt to pre-empt and prejudice the exercise of the inquiry,” he said. Further, Nandlall said that only a commission of inquiry could determine whether the persons who died on that fateful day were indeed murdered.
He noted that the Opposition through the motion was condemning people before the outcome of the commission of inquiry. “The motion undermines and prejudices the process to which we have committed ourselves,” he said.
He said too that while the Opposition is calling for the removal of the Minister because they no longer had confidence in him, the Minister was not appointed based on the confidence of the Parliament. He said only the President can remove the Minister from office. “Whether we talk from now to thy kingdom come the National Assembly has no power to remove the Minister from office,” Nandlall declared. He noted that the Leader of the Opposition is the only person who can be removed through a vote of no confidence.
Nandlall said that in the absence of evidence linking Rohee to the shootings, the Minister cannot resign and said that everything outside of an official commission of inquiry is prejudicial.
Speaking on the motion, APNU Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon, who was on the ground during the shooting, read out the names of the three dead men and all of those who were wounded.
In his contribution, PPP/C MP Odinga Lumumba said that no government official gave any instruction to the Police to carry out the heinous act. He said that the matter cannot be about Minister Rohee only since it has much wider implications. He said removing the Minister will not solve the problems of Linden.
Works Minister Robeson Benn expressed condolences to the families of the dead persons and regrets for those who were shot.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand asked what the link was between Rohee as policy maker for the Police and the Linden shootings. She accused the Opposition of trying to seek Government through the backdoor by bringing motions expressing loss of confidence in various officials of the administration.
Government members wanted more time to prepare for the debate and were not of a mind to proceed with the debate yesterday. MP and Presidential adviser Gail Teixeira said there is no reference to no-confidence mo-tions in the Standing Orders and therefore it was apposite to be guided from the experience of other jurisdictions.
