Government spokesperson, Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Friday hinted that there may be another Commission of Inquiry (CoI) established – this time, to probe extrajudicial killings during the period 2002 to 2008.
“There is a possibility of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI),” he told reporters at his week’s post-Cabinet press briefing as he assured that Government is still
Minister of State Joseph Harmon
committed to probing the killings of those persons.
Harmon posited that the Coroner’s Inquest Act requires that an inquest be held for any unnatural death, which was not done for those persons killed during that “troubled” period.
“At some point in time, you have to bring closure and I believe this is what the President has been saying. You have to bring closure,” he asserted.
President David Granger has long been calling for a Commission of Inquiry into extra-judicial killings in Guyana. According to Harmon, the President is still committed to probing these killings.
“As the Leader of the Opposition, he was calling on the then Government to do something about it (but) now he is the President and he is in a position to do something about it. I want to assure you, he will do something about it… This period was no so long ago, there are still people out there who were never called upon to give a statement,” Harmon noted.
During a televised programme in 2016, the Head of State had disclosed that in keeping with the promise he made as Opposition Leader, steps were being taken to compile the information needed for the probe to be held.
In efforts to take a step closer, those investigating the killings wanted to ensure that there is an efficient and effective coroner’s department in place to investigate the crimes of that period. In this vain, Government used its one seat majority in the National Assembly back in January 2016 to pass the Coroner’s Amendment Bill, which seeks to have, among other things, a minimum of four full-time coroners in Demerara, three in Berbice and two in Essequibo.
Meanwhile, even as the coalition is adamant about probing the killings during the 2002 to 2008 era, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Opposition had raised concerns, noting that Government should launch investigations dating back to the 1970s and not only the 2000s.
In fact, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had accused the coalition of being selective in its calls for investigations and suggested instead that the probe be done into all the murders and all the missing weaponry. “We should have an inquiry into everything, maybe the mother of all inquiries,” Jagdeo had stated.
