Dear Editor,
Recently, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) was ordered by the caretaker President Granger for the vehicular collision which occurred on the East Bank of Demerara two weeks ago where five persons were killed, three of whom were members of the Disciplined Services.
Over the last four and a half years, around five hundred Guyanese were killed as a result of road accidents and that is a huge loss for us as a nation. The state of Guyana spends and invests many millions of dollars on every single Guyanese life whether directly or indirectly through government spending on education, health, roads, drainage, sea defences, infrastructure, security and a range of other social services. Yet, for four and a half years, road accidents and fatalities have been an invisible issue for Granger until this collision when he ordered a CoI. While Granger may feel some degree of personal responsibility because it is reported that the speeding police car which was involved in the collision was heading to where Granger resides in the village of Pearl, a feeling of responsibility should never be the basis of an exercise of presidential power. If a CoI was ordered, it should have been ordered on all road fatalities with a specific objective of reducing significantly road accidents and fatalities and not just this collision.
In addition, it was also reported that Granger visited the families of the victims following the East Bank Collision. This would have been the first time that it was reported that Granger would have visited the families of the victims of any vehicular accident in the last four and a half years. When you hold the post of president, you are responsible for the welfare and well-being of all nationals. Hundreds of grieving families would have never received a visit from Granger. Those victims matter too.
Finally, Granger’s request for a CoI into this vehicular collision is entirely inconsistent with his previous position when a far more harrowing incident occurred almost four years ago when three persons were killed in a high-speed car chase where a car with two soldiers was in pursuit of ordinary citizens, one of whom happened to be my wife. The position taken by Granger immediately after the accident was that “it was a legitimate state operation” and “there is no need for a probe”. A high-speed car chase of innocent citizens by un-uniformed soldiers in unidentified vehicles which saw the death of three persons, one of whom was an innocent civilian, deserved at least an investigation let alone a CoI.
Yours faithfully,
Charles S. Ramson
Attorney at Law
Former Member of
Parliament
