Dear Editor,
I read with some degree of jocularity a letter in the Stabroek News on October 31, captioned ‘The Linden Commission of Inquiry cannot be seen as making a case for the authorities.“ The statement was signed by a group with notable apologists for the PNC/APNU party, namely Drs Adeola James and Kimani Nehusi. The letter is a garbled text of what they thought might have happened in Linden, hence the confused nonsense. As is the case with so many things in Guyana today, where people try to rewrite history with their own narrow misconceptions, you are bound to have misleading communications.
But I urge the commissioners to stay focused and get the work done. I know that the said group has its own biased interests in the Linden situation but if we are to get somewhere they need to put emotions aside and stick to the facts, and all the so-called puzzling issues will be solved. I am pretty sure the Chairman of the commission will not allow this latest tirade to railroad this noble body from the objective, which is to stick to the facts and get to the bottom of the scenario that was Linden.
They are duty bound to ferret out the facts and present them to the people who are paying keen interest in the proceedings. Therefore the caption ‘The Linden Commission of Inquiry cannot be seen as making a case for the authorities‘ is ill timed and ill advised. [Ed note: Captions reflect the contents of a letter.] No one wants the commission to make out a case for the government or for anyone for that matter. What the people want is the truth, and a fact finding body that would leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the whole affair even if it means exposing the wrongs of police or protesters.
What we have seen so far is a vain attempt to cover up the extremes of the protesters and their sympathizers, something the group which signed the letter is finding it hard to come to grips with.
Such outbursts coming before the commission has completed its findings leaves much to be desired. You cannot wish away the facts and the following is established thus far:
1. The spent shells did not come from the guns of the police.
2. Acknowledgement from Mr Desmond Trotman that breaking the law is an acceptable form of protest.
3. The police did not act irresponsibly.
4. The protesters were violent.
5. The Home Affairs Minister did not in any way influence police operations at Linden.
If the commission sticks to the facts I think we would clearly understand what really took place at Linden and not the Anansi story those with vested interests would have us believe.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
