The Alliance For Change (AFC) will be approaching the government to ask for an increase in the amount of compensation that was recommended for the relatives of the three men who died when police opened fire on protestors at Linden on July 18 last year.
The amounts recommended for Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset by the five-member commission set up to investigate the events of that day were $3M, $3M and $2M respectively.
There has been growing criticism over the amounts which some believe are totally inadequate and unreasonable especially given that the commission had blamed the police for the men’s deaths.
During the AFC’s weekly press conference yesterday, the Chairman, attorney at law Nigel Hughes told reporters that the party is disappointed with the “extremely low awards of damages”, to the relatives.
Hughes who represented the relatives of the deceased during the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the events of that day said that the AFC believes that the right to life is guaranteed by Article 139 of the constitution. He said that given the fact that the commissioners found that the Guyana Police Force had used unjustified lethal force; the awards that were eventually announced were particularly low.
The Attorney General, he said, will be approached to have those amounts increased. Stabroek News understands that it is the Attorney General who has been tasked with advising the president on the contents of the 200-plus paragraph report. The report was handed over to President Donald Ramotar last Thursday. He had told reporters that he needed time to go through the document.
Hughes also expressed disagreement with comments made by one of the commissioners, former chancellor Cecil Kennard who said that the compensation given was reasonable.
In an interview with Stabroek News on Tuesday he had said that the level of compensation recommended is fair in light of the testimony presented to the COI and the fact that it was found that the police did not intend to kill anyone.
When asked about the compensation recommended for the relatives of the slain men and whether the figures could be altered by government, Kennard said that the sums were just a recommendation and it is now up to the government.
The commissioners, he said analyzed the contributions in terms of earnings made to their families by the three deceased men and then made their recommendation.
Asked why the compensation recommended for Somerset’s family was lower than the others—the figure was increased from $1M to $2M just before the report was handed over—he said that this was based on what the man’s mother told the commission and doubt over whether he was employed at the time of his death.
Hughes had said that he was disappointed with the compensation awarded, since he had expected nothing less than between $10 million and $15 million each for his clients.
In the report on its findings and recommendations, the COI found the police responsible for the deaths. It also said that the discharge of ammunition was justified as the police were confronted by a hostile crowd and noted that there was no clear intention to kill or injure anyone.
Part of the COI’s mandate included making recommendations for compensation where necessary for injury, loss or damage as a consequence of the events of July 18, 2012, but the sums recommended for the families of the dead and some of the injured have been criticized as inadequate.
Former Chancellor Kennard, former Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh, Senior Counsel K.D Knight, of Jamaica, Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal of Trinidad and Tobago and former Chief Justice of Jamaica Lensley Wolfe, who was the Chairman, comprised the Commission.
The COI report called the compensation recommended a gratuity rather than a legal obligation.
