Guyana must evolve to a place where institutions of state are trusted – President

…urges country to await outcome of due process in Quindon Bacchus’s death

Even as the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) wraps up its investigation into the Quindon Bacchus killing, President Dr Irfaan Ali has cited the importance of Guyana evolving to a place where people are able to have trust in the institutions of state and understand the process.
During an interview with the media on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, President Ali noted that even as they continue building the institutions of state, the people’s respect for, and understanding of, those institutions is important.
“I’m hoping for the day to come, as we build institutions, that people respect institutions and await the outcomes. We can’t have institutions that are independent of the Government and then want the Government to dictate what the institutions must do,” President Ali said.

“But the society and the country must evolve to a place where the institutions are trusted; where people understand the nature under which the institutions work. We want justice for everybody. Mr Bacchus, the process is at the Police Complaints Authority. They said they’ll finish the report in the new week.”
According to President Ali, his uppermost priority is delivering a Guyana that is unified and provides prosperity to all citizens. But with recent events proving that some are still intent on dividing Guyana, the President noted on Wednesday, he was contemplating taking drastic action.
“This morning I was contemplating doing something very strange. I was contemplating going to sit in a burial ground and to do a ‘live’ from there, and to remind everybody that, at the end of the day, that’s our final destination. You want to fight and break up; you can have everything. That is our final destination,” he said.
When it comes to the ability of the protestors to advance as far as Mon Repos, where they looted stalls, and to the perceived shortcomings of the Police, President Ali was optimistic that a full report would be produced on this. According to him, however, the immediate task of the Police was to secure the corridor, which they set out to do.
“I’m not making excuse for the Police. The Police worked based on intelligence they had. The Police designed their approach to any situation based on information. Let us think for a moment if Police were in advance of the corridor and action was taken in a different direction, what might have been the outcome? Some actors might have used it against the Police,” he said.
“Whether the Police give an explanation, the immediate task was to secure the corridor and return things to normalcy. That is an ongoing task. But I’m sure there will be a total report on this,” the President declared.

Mob violence
What was intended to be a call for justice for the slain Quindon Bacchus at Golden Grove on Tuesday escalated into terror along the East Coast Demerara (ECD) corridor, thus leading to several vendors at the Mon Repos Market being robbed while their stalls were vandalised and goods looted.
Armed with cutlasses, knives, iron bars and other handy weapons, looters stormed the Mon Repos Market just after 10:00h. Claiming that they were avenging the shooting death of Bacchus, which took place on June 10, the looters proceeded to destroy goods, burn stalls and vehicles, shatter windscreens of vehicles, and even assault vendors, who were forced to run into the adjoining streets in fear for their lives.
After the looters had made off with the fruits, vegetables, clothing, shoes and other articles which were being sold in the makeshift market, vendors were left counting their losses, which could amount to millions of dollars. Some vendors have since already received compensation.
Bacchus, a father of one and late resident of Golden Grove, ECD, was allegedly shot six times about his body following an encounter with Police ranks. It was reported that, on June 10, ranks were conducting an intelligence-led operation in the Haslington New Scheme area of the ECD after receiving some information earlier in the day. While there, the ranks said, they contacted a 22-year-old construction worker, who provided them with certain information.
As a result of the information, a plainclothes rank who was armed made arrangements to purchase a firearm from Bacchus, who left and returned with the firearm.
In the process of handing over the firearm to the rank, an alarm was raised. As a result, Bacchus ran in a southerly direction and discharged a round in the rank’s direction, and the rank drew his service pistol and returned fire.
Police said Bacchus then ran further south and jumped into a yard, and the rank gave chase. While the rank was in close proximity to Bacchus, Bacchus allegedly discharged several other rounds at the rank, and the rank took cover and returned fire, hitting the now-deceased man about his body.
Bacchus reportedly fell to the ground, along with the firearm, which was later identified as a .380 pistol with a magazine that still had one round. Police said Bacchus was picked up in a conscious state and escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was seen and examined, but subsequently died. (G3)