The Opposition APNU+AFC on Thursday condemned what it said was the use of the Guyana Police Force to achieve the ruling PPP’s political objectives while at the same time ensuring that PPP senior officials who are accused of serious crimes are not investigated or that the investigations are botched.
In a statement, it said that the political harassment of Member of Parliament David Patterson is one of the most recent manifestations of the PPP’s harassment of the Opposition.
“Mr. Patterson is being accused of violating the law. What is interesting is for this minor offence he is placed on $200,000 station bail which is clearly an act of political harassment”, the opposition said.
In the case of the allegations of bribery and corruption leveled against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in the Vice News Report, the opposition claimed that the PPP instructed the police not to investigate.
“Mr. Jagdeo’s alleged crime is far worse than the allegation leveled against Mr. Patterson. Yet the police are unable to investigate an alleged crime that has serious implications for the nation as a whole”, the opposition stated.
In the case of the alleged rape of an indigenous child, the opposition said that the police were very complacent and this allowed the former minister Nigel Dharamlall to escape a charge.
“For the Opposition this is not a closed case. It is a case of money and other forms of power being used to intimidate ordinary citizens and to allow the members of the PPP elite class in Guyana to violate the law and go unpunished. It must be stated here that rape has no statute bar and therefore those who believe in justice will continue to pursue this case until there is justice”, the statement said.
