Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC has vehemently condemned statements made by Tacuma Ogunseye, executive member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), including for persons to be “battle ready”
Ogunseye, while at a WPA meeting on Thursday night in the village of Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) made several claims about the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) using the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force in the past to “execute” Africans and encouraged his ethnic group, especially those who are members of the Joint Services, to be “battle ready” for a “fight.”
During the meeting which was recorded and shared on the Facebook profile of KAMS TV, the party member could be heard referring to his version of events in Buxton, 2002, “…In 2002, 2005, when Buxton got interrupted into an unfortunate situation which arose because of the PPP policy of executing Africans using the police force and then the phantom force and Buxton find itself in the cross road.”
He went on to contend that the treatment that persons of African descent receive in this country is unjust and called it a “political urgency” which he declared must be acted upon as early as possible. “We in the Working People’s Alliance have decided once again to put the party on the line because we believe that with the present situation in our country… the treatment and conditions of the African community requires political urgency and we have to act and we have to act quickly… for the WPA in this present campaign we have some clear objectives, the first objective is to get the African team in a state of battle readiness… the Afro-Guyanese police and soldiers… would stand with Afro-Guyanese in resisting mainly Indo-Guyanese supporting the PPP/C.”
The WPA executive member said he was of the belief that once persons from the Joint Services who are of his ethnic group are guided to do “the right thing,” then there is a possibility of his party getting back into government. “…Sometimes people tell me that to remove the PPP will be hard and long but I don’t necessarily believe… because at the end of the day no government could survive if they don’t have the support of the military and those who carry weapons for the state… the reality is, the army, the police, are majority African Guyanese… once we organise our people and once we begin to fight we will ensure that our brothers and sisters in uniform will do the right thing and when they do the right thing this matter is over in days and not weeks… it have to be strategic.”
In a release issued by the AG’s office, Nandlall described Ogunseye’s remarks as “racist” and said that the man was inciting “riotous behaviour” and that his claims cannot be proven. “This racist incendiary call for public disorder and resistance, positioned as an alternative to the democratic process of Local Government Elections lawfully due, is capable of amounting to several criminal offences, including but not limited to, sedition, seditious libel, inciting riotous behaviour and exciting racial hostility in order to create a breakdown of law and order within the State of Guyana, if not treason.”
“Certainly, such inflammatory publications cannot be justified under the rubric of freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Constitution, since Article 146 which guarantees such freedom, expressly excepts ‘…hate speeches or other expressions, in whatever form, capable of exciting hostility or ill-will against any person or class of persons.’ [Article 146 (3)].”
The minister further called on citizens to speak out against the rhetoric of the WPA member and not to ignore them since it could embolden. “All right-thinking citizens must therefore echo their voices against such perilous rhetoric and the law enforcement agencies are obliged to take such action as they deem necessary. History has shown that when such conduct is ignored, it inspires the perpetrators with greater boldness.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Joint Services, Brigadier Godfrey Bess yesterday said that he wished to remind citizens that irrespective of its ethnic composition the Joint Services “is an apolitical institution and will continue to uphold the noble position of service to the people of Guyana”.
The Joint Services said that it is “guided by the constitution which mandates it to stand firm in the protection of the law and in the execution of its duties, in keeping with its constitutional responsibilities, and not guided by any partisan values and interests”.
Brigadier Bess urged particularly social activists and commentators to “refrain from misleading and mischievous remarks which incite racial tensions, deviating from the promotion of the peace and security which the Services are mandated to maintain”. He made no mention of Ogunseye.
