President Donald Ramotar yesterday challenged the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and leader David Granger to aid in the recovery of military weapons missing since its time in government, while saying there was clear evidence the arms had ended up in the hands of criminals.
“These weapons were given to the PNC and they have found themselves into the criminal community. They have a responsibility of getting back those weapons,” Ramotar said, while addressing the recent revelations that more than 150 weapons issued by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to external bodies in the 1970s remain missing.
Lieutenant Colonel Sydney James, head of the army’s G2 branch, this week revealed at the Commission of Inquiry into Walter Rodney’s death that a 2008 internal investigation found that that 155 weapons out of 237 issued to various external bodies, including the former National Development Ministry as well as security forces, had never been returned. Two of the missing weapons were found in Mahaicony in 2008 in the possession of criminals.
“….When those weapons were given to the PNC, the present leader of the PNC was the commander of the army
at the time. And now that he is the leader of the PNC, I would expect that he would make a genuine effort to return the weapons that were given to the PNC,” Ramotar told a press conference at the Office of the President.
Asked whether the weapons were given to the PNC or the Ministry of National Development, Ramotar said that based on history the ministry was inseparable from the PNC and it was also the Office of the General Secretary of the PNC.
He added that his administration has been talking for a long time about the links between the opposition and crime and suggested that the crime spree in the wake of the February 2002 Camp Street prison break would not have lasted so long had there not been political involvement. “They didn’t break and enter into any armoury, yet they were very well-equipped with weapons,” he said.
When questioned about the efforts made by the Defence Board since the 2008 investigation to ensure that the missing weapons were retrieved, Ramotar said that the law enforcement agencies would “continuously try to recoup those weapons,” as well as all the illegal weapons that are out there.
“It is the task of the law enforcement agencies to continue working to try to get them back,” he said, while also acknowledging that as the Commander-in-Chief he also had the responsibility of ensuring that the weapons are returned. “Of course I don’t have a problem with that and that is why I am telling you that this is one of important functions of the security forces, to get the weapons back… this is a standing order to get the weapons back… from whatever time,” he added.
Ramotar could not say if any disciplinary action was taken against anyone for failure to locate the weapons or to return them to the army. “I know that when some of the weapons were missing that some of the present day activists in the PNC, one was heading the army and one was heading the police force. Maybe they can help now that we know where the weapons went… that they could get it back to us,” he said.
When asked if his party has made enough efforts to retrieve the weapons given the fact that the PPP has been in power for 22 of the 35 years the weapons have been missing, Ramotar responded in the affirmative. “Of course. We have been making a lot of efforts to get the weapons back but maybe part of the reason that we have not totally succeeded is what I have just said. Who was heading the army and the police force?”
