Saying that it does not feel justice was done by the Linden Commission of Inquiry (COI), main opposition APNU yesterday announced that it will push for the establishment of an assessment board to review the monetary awards recommended for the family of persons killed and for those injured after the July 18, 2012 confrontation between protestors and police.
“APNU does not share the view of the Chairman of the Commission [Lensley Wolfe] that justice has been done… justice is still a long way off. Our Partnership will work for the establishment of a board of assessors charged with the review of the awards … so that due and full recognition will be given to those who suffered from the brutal and fatal assaults at the hands of the police in the course of the Linden protest. Nothing less will suffice,” APNU’s Vice-Chairman Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine said at a press conference yesterday.
In the report on its findings and recommendations, which was handed over to President Donald Ramotar last week, the COI found the police responsible for the deaths of the three persons killed. 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 its 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 criticised as inadequate.
The Alliance for Change and the Region 10 Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon had said that the sums awarded were appalling.
The commissioners analyzed the contributions in terms of earnings made to their families by the three deceased men and recommended a total of $8M to the deceased, with $3 million awarded to Bouyea’s estate, $3 million to Lewis’ estate and $2 million to Somerset’s estate.
“Is this what a Guyanese life is worth? When did life stop being priceless?” questioned Roopnaraine yesterday. “Nowhere is this want of human solidarity more blatant than in the contemptuous so-called compensation awarded to the families of the dead and wounded. It has to be said that the pages of the Report dealing with compensation to the estates of the three dead men and the injured persons, written from a great height, are far and away its most shameful,” he added.
APNU’s Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams echoed Roopnaraine’s comments. “It seems to me that we didn’t get value for money,” he said, while noting that the sums were not enough and he opined that to him it seemed as if inanimate things were worth more than human life. He explained that compensation was not a subjective matter and that there should have been guidelines used such as Ogden Actuarial Tables that govern compensation in the United Kingdom.
Williams also explained that the awards set out by the COI was binding and could not be interfered with by government but noted that if government wanted to it could pay additional monies.
On the establishment of the assessment board, Roopnaraine stated that it was not worked out as yet but touted having the National Assembly involved in the process.
Williams pointed out that during the COI, the issue of having an assessor appointed came up but the attorneys representing the persons should be blamed for that never coming to fruition. “We have to take that blame because the lawyers couldn’t agree to who should be the assessor and that really doesn’t speak well for us,” he said.
