Dear Editor,
History and experience have taught us that a responsible government must express a moral obligation to uphold values and lead with honour, dignity and fairness. According to former Canadian Prime Minister Pearson: “There is an obligation not simply to observe the law but to act in a manner so scrupulous that it will bear the closest of public scrutiny. The conduct of the public business must be beyond question in terms of moral standards.”
Can Minister Rohee’s conduct in the run-up to the killing of the Linden Martyrs stand up to public scrutiny? This is what we observed. We observed from Minister Rohee that as head of the security sector, he failed the people by breaching his responsibility to “serve and protect” them; we observed Minister Rohee’s serious mismanagement of his subordinates for which they are criminally responsible, while he is politically liable; we observed in Minister Rohee a minister who is unclear as to his duty and responsibilities and thus his ‘lame duck’ attempt to explain away unlawful killings by the police.
In ordinary use, the word ‘responsible’ means the agreement, whether spoken or otherwise, by which someone accepts the blame or credit for something done. This however has not been the case in Guyana where blatant wrongs have been committed against the people by the officer in charge and by extension, therefore, the regime, and Minister Rohee is trying to position excuse after excuse to divert the blame away from the PPP, rather than do the honourable thing – demit office.
As it stands now, even PPP supporters have condemned these unlawful killings by the police, and proper statesmanship dictates that to preserve what is left of the PPP’s credibility, Minister Rohee must go. If anyone were to do a survey of the people to ask if they trusted the Police Force under Mr Rohee’s leadership, the answer would be a resounding no. The Lindeners have made it clear they prefer to be supervised by the soldiers rather than the police. How clearer can the message be?
Thus this arrogant disdain and disregard for the will of the people must be acted upon by the majority opposition and someone has to pay for these unnecessary killings both criminally and politically. Saying “I broke no law” is not enough in Minister Rohee’s case. A wrong has been done and he is responsible. So, he should ‘man-up’ to the people and do justice to that institution called the Ministry of Home Affairs, make way for better leadership and stop foisting upon the people a sub-optimal option.
In fact, in all its misdeeds, the corrupt PPP regime has always found excuses to blame the people for the wrongs they committed. For too long the people of Linden have been ignored and marginalized by a regime that has used state resources to benefit their relatives, friends and cronies but does not have the moral decency to conceive an action and development plan for Region 10 after some 20 years in office. For years, Lindeners had their backs to the wall and the raising of the electrical tariffs at Linden at such short notice is nothing other than vindictiveness and pettiness because the people voted en masse against the PPP. That is why in conclusion we believe that Mr Rohee’s failure as a Minister to professionalize the Guyana Police Force and make sure that they follow standard operating procedure in the execution of their duty reflects poor leadership and gross incompetence. Mr Rohee should be aware that the majority of people do not trust him to lead the security sector and by extension they do not have confidence in the PPP government to do so either. The results of the November elections prove this fact.
Minister Rohee cannot think he could fool the public when he said on NCN television recently that he does not issue directives to the police. We want to remind the Minister that earlier this year he told the acting Commissioner of Police, Leroy Brummell to discipline Commander Ramnarine for speaking out against the missing $90 million that was supposed to provide meals and transportation for the police during the elections. So who is really telling the truth?
Minister Rohee continues to show his callousness to the people of Linden by refusing to accept responsibility for what happened in Linden. Instead he chooses to dig his heels in and this will only send the wrong message to members of the special squad that they can do anything to the people of Guyana and nothing will happen to them. Who is accountable to whom?
President Ramotar’s statement that he supports Mr Rohee because he did nothing wrong has only added insult to injury and opened the wounds of Lindeners. No President in his right mind would allow Rohee to remain in their cabinet. Three lives were lost (the Linden martyrs: Shemroy Bouyea, Ron Somerset and Ivan Lewis), at least twenty were injured, and Lindeners are livid, so the least President Ramotar can do is to show true and sincere statesmanship and let Minister Rohee go now.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Sasenarine Singh
