In the wake of a raging crisis in the prisons system following the destruction of the Camp Street jail and the escape of high-profile prisoners, the AFC yesterday voiced confidence in Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan who is its immediate past leader and current Chairman.
In a statement following its third National Executive Committee meeting on Saturday at the George-town Club, the AFC, which is part of the governing coalition with APNU, said a motion was unanimously passed that the party “reposes its full and complete confidence in its chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, as Minister of Public Security”. It said that the motion followed events of July 9th when a prison warder was shot dead, the main Camp Street prison burnt down and six prisoners escaped and events subsequently, which “brought national focus and attention on the public security sector”.
Those events included the escape of 13 Camp Street prisoners on July 24 from a holding area at Lusignan after they dug a tunnel. Eleven have since been recaptured and one was shot dead. This was followed by the shooting of 16 prisoners with pellets and rubber bullets at Lusignan on July 29th during a disturbance and then the shooting to death of a prisoner on Friday at the Timehri prisons as he reportedly attempted to flee.