People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee yesterday downplayed the significance of the protest by Letter Kenny, Corentyne residents over the frequent number of road fatalities.
The death of Reena Devi Singh, 18, of Letter Kenny Village, who was struck by a car, sparked a protest on Sunday evening, during which angry residents torched the vehicle.
“I would wish to not entertain the linking of political issues with clearly an issue relating to an accident,” Rohee told a news conference at Freedom House yesterday after being asked whether a large group of people taking to the streets in frustration over the inaction of the government and political parties that would have campaigned on a platform of increasing road safety was political in nature.
Rohee said that he was “not going down that road.”
He stated that it was not a political matter and that the “police will take actions and justice will take its course.” He denied that people were actually protesting inaction even though residents had voiced their disgust at the frequency at which fatal accidents occur in the area.
The Corentyne is traditionally a PPP stronghold. However, Rohee said that “this has nothing do with politics and PPP support in that area… I rule that out completely.”
During the course of the protest, residents had little regard for the police ranks that arrived on the scene as well as the members of the Guyana Fire Service who were blocked from preventing the car from being set on fire.
Rohee noted that there were various initiatives to assist with the improvement of road safety, including the community policing groups, the neighbourhood police and the traffic wardens.
Speaking in his capacity as Home Affairs Minister, Rohee noted that the various mandates point to a vested interest in improving road safety.
When asked the party’s positon, given that people still took to the street regardless of the various mandates established, Rohee refused answer. This publication asked him if protesting and the complaints over the lack of attention being paid to enforce road safety in the area did not illustrate that the various mandates were ineffective but he, however, did not wish to comment.
Rohee was pressed by members of the media to answer if hundreds of residents in a party stronghold taking to the streets was a political plus for the party but he stated it was time to move on from the line of questioning.
Singh was struck by the speeding car while trying to cross the road. She was rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital, where she succumbed as a result of her injuries.
Her death saw hundreds of residents go out on the street to register their outrage about the regularity with which road accidents occur.
In addition to torching the car that was involved in the accident, they turned up at the Whim Police Station and demanded the name of the driver.
Last month, Karamchand Shivdyall, 27, succumbed to injuries at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital after being involved in car accident along the Corentyne, Berbice Public Road. In June and July there were multiple pedestrian deaths, including that of Vickram Ramlaksh and sisters Tabitha and Juanita Bagot and their three-year-old niece Shemaine Cort, who were fatally struck by an alleged drunk driver on the Corentyne road.
