Dear Editor,
This is in reference to the Commission of Inquiry report (SN, Mar 1) as presented to the government (and by extension the leaders of the two opposition parliamentary parties). The COI has not revealed anything new that we already did not know or learn about from the hearings except the COI gave meaning to what transpired and recommended certain actions to avoid a repeat of Linden.
The COI also blames two opposition MPs for the protests as we learn from media reports during the hearing. During the hearing, the commissioners were critical of the organizers of the protests as well as the two MPs, who were justifiably accorded responsibility for not taking measures to dissuade the protesters from blocking the bridge, etc.
The COI rightly exonerated Minister Clement Rohee as clearly he did not give instructions to use force, although I feel the Minister should have taken a more hands-on approach on the protests. The exoneration of Minister Rohee clearly is a damning critique of the opposition for passing a no confidence motion against Mr Rohee when they had no evidence to support their contention that he was responsible for the shootings.
During the hearings, eyewitnesses talked about shootings. But it could not be determined who did the shooting. Yet, the COI blames the police for not taking measures to prevent the shooting and in fact blames the police (holding them responsible) for the shooting. The COI concluded that the use of force was justified to control the crowd but not to shoot into the crowd.
Over $85 million was spent on this inquiry. That is money that could have been used for the development of Linden and other depressed areas and/or used to subsidize electricity rates for Guyanese.
Now that it is verified what happened in Linden and who did what and when, and who is to be blamed, (and note that the COI did not blame the government for the violence), it is time to consider implementing the COI recommendations and start police training to prevent these kinds of incidents from recurring. Government or parliament may wish to consider sanctioning those who were responsible for the violence.
Your faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
