The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has condemned former president Bharrat Jagdeo’s suggestion that political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing was killed to boost the opposition campaign, saying it demonstrated recklessness and faulty logic.
Using Jagdeo’s logic, the GTUC said in a statement on Monday, it could be argued that the killings of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh, Ronald Waddell and those massacred in Lusignan, Bartica, and Lindo Creek, among others, were used to boost his desire to remain in power.
Jadgeo mentioned Crum-Ewing during the PPP/C campaign rally at Kitty on Sunday and he suggested that the man could have been killed to give life to what he described as the “whisper campaign” of the opposition.
“I was thinking: Who benefits from this? Definitely not the PPP/C. We have had the Kaieteur News cussing us every day and nobody bothers them. We have had people done worse than walk around with a loud hailer cussing the PPP and nobody has touched them in this country,” Jagdeo said.
Crum-Ewing, 40, was gunned down on March 10th while urging residents of Diamond New Housing Scheme to take to the polls at the upcoming May 11th general elections to vote the PPP/C out of office.
The GTUC further noted that when Attorney General Anil Nandlall was caught on tape engaging in a sexual depravity towards a female reporter, President Donald Ramotar said he was standing by him. “It was this level of depravity that led the late Courtney Crum-Ewing to lead an 80-day protest in front of the Attorney General’s office, which of course was a source of embarrassment to the government, but Jagdeo today accuses others of killing him to boost their campaign,” the union said.
During Crum-Ewing’s protest action threats were made to his life and he had made reports to the police. The names of two senior government officials were given to the police but it would appear that the reports were never pursued. Relatives and friends have expressed firm belief that his murder was linked to the protest action and his critical stance against those in government.
