Last week, the Mayor of Corriverton complained bitterly that the Guyana Police Force and the leadership of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government sabotaged the town’s annual flag-raising ceremony, which was planned to mark Guyana’s 48th Republic Anniversary on February 23, 2018.
Among other things, the Mayor alleged that the Police descended on the event and demanded that the organisers desist from playing any music or instruments during the course of the event. The lawmen also reportedly told the Mayor and Councillors present that they were instructed to prevent the event from taking place, because no permission was sought or obtained for the event to be staged legally.
Additionally, the Commander of B Division’s name was called as the person who passed the instructions to the ranks, both supervisory and junior, within Corriverton.
The Mayor explained that the actions of the Police were as a direct result of the political interference of high-ranking officials within the coalition Government, who refused to accept the will of the residents of Corriverton. While giving more details to the media, the local government official said that the Town Council had originally invited subject Minister Ronald Bulkan to deliver remarks at the event weeks ahead of its execution. He related when no response was received, another decision was taken to invite a young Berbician and parliamentarian in the person of Adrian Anamayah to fill the void. However, an offer was made to have Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan as an alternative representative from the Government who would deliver “feature remarks”. After consultation, the Council rejected Minister Ramjattan as a feature speaker, but rather agreed to have him added to the programme.
In steps the People’s National Congress’s General Secretary, Amna Ally, who is also the Social Protection Minister within the Government, into the mix of things. Ally then instructs the Mayor to disregard the will of the full council and entertain “feature” remarks by Minister Ramjattan, who is the current Chairman of the AFC. When the Council refused to reconsider its decision, Ally then informed the Mayor that she has already passed instructions that would see the event not coming to fruition.
The Mayor said to this newspaper that the actions of the Police and the Executive resulted in February 23 being one of the darkest days in the history of Corriverton. He said that local democracy and the will of the people was undermined and The Town Council would be taking action to ensure that there was no reoccurrence.
Despite the protestations of the Mayor and people of Corriverton, the Government has remained silent on the entire controversy. Neither Minister Bulkan nor any of his colleagues have condemned the actions of the Guyana Police Force on the eve of this country’s republic anniversary. And this silence cannot be downplayed. In fact, this silence must be seen as culpability because from all of the facts surrounding the fracas, the Government appears guilty of giving operational instructions to the Police at B Division which amounts to political interference in the work of the Force.
Also, the fact that the B Division Commander is distancing himself from the embarrassing event makes it even more interesting. If the Commander wants the public to believe that he is indeed not guilty of following political directives, then he must immediately commence a probe into what really took place at Corriverton with the aim of finding out who exactly gave the order to halt and sabotage the event. As a matter of fact, the Police Commissioner is now duty-bound, given the seriousness of the allegations being made by the Mayor and the fact that the image of the Guyana Police Force is at stake, to order an independent probe into the saga.
And if the Government wants to defend the integrity of Ministers Ramjattan, Ally and Bulkan to a lesser extent, it must strongly condemn the sabotage at Corriverton publicly, support the probe and call for those behind the saga to be disciplined. If the Government is serious about upholding local democracy and respecting the rights of local democratic organs and town councils, then President David Granger must personally request an explanation from the three Ministers about their role in the diabolical plot to undermine the town’s flag-raising event. If any of the Ministers accept responsibility and that they gave operational instructions to the Police, they should be made to resign immediately.
