Jagdeo calls on ERC to probe arrest of party member

…accuses AFC of being vindictive

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is calling on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to look into the recent arrest of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) candidate Shafraz Beekham, as he accused the Alliance For Change (AFC) party of being vindictive.

Beekham was arrested by Police about an hour after there was an alleged fire at the home of an AFC member in Berbice on Wednesday evening; a move, which Jagdeo believes is an act of vindictiveness on the part of the AFC.
The Opposition Leader posited that if there was indeed an arson attempt then the matter must be condemned. He however urged that there be a full investigation into the incident, since Beekham was the one who mounted a legal challenge against the AFC’s Whim/Bloomfield list of candidates for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).
Further, Jagdeo pointed out that when the case was filed several weeks ago, the Chairman of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, who is also the Public Security Minister, went on television in Berbice threatening to deal with the litigant.

“[So] we believe that it is all contrived by the AFC to gain sympathy and to act as an intimidation as they know now that an appeal has been filed – that will go probably all the way to the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) – that will expose the shenanigans of the AFC in that area and therefore, they have to go, we believe, against the person who filed it. And compounding this, the Minister of Public Security threatened this gentleman to deal with him weeks ago on television. All this must be fully investigated because it smacks of political gimmickry again by the AFC,” the Opposition Leader contended.
The legal challenge was dismissed last week by High Court Judge, Justice Navindra Singh, who found that there was no evidence of fraudulent names on the AFC’s list. As such, Beekham, through his attorneys, have since appealed the High Court decision.

Independent review
Nevertheless, Jagdeo is of the view that the issue should be looked into by an independent agency. In fact, he noted that efforts should be made to get the tape from Ramjattan’s appearance on television where he made the threat against Beekham.
“We need someone to commandeer this tape and it cannot be the GNBA (Guyana National Broadcasting Agency) and it can’t be the Police because they will take instructions, Ramjattan will bully them,” Jagdeo asserted, adding that Opposition Members of Parliament (MP) overheard the Minister giving certain instructions while at Parliament on Wednesday night that probably lead to the arrest of Beekham.
To this end, he called on the ERC to probe this act of vindictiveness by the minority party in the coalition Government.
“Imagine the other people may never want to come forward because they fear victimisation. We believe its victimisation [because] an hour after this event allegedly took place, they picked up this guy. So we have to get an outside investigation into this… In fact, the only body I can think about right now is the Ethnic Relations Commission, to look urgently into this matter,” the Opposition Leader stated.

Woman’s claims
Meanwhile, the AFC member, Rashree Permaul, is claiming that the PPP activist attempted to set fire to her Bloomfield home on Wednesday night at about 21:45h.
The woman, told Guyana Times that she is a candidate of the AFC for the Whim/Bloomfield Neighbourhood Democratic Council. However, a check of the list reveals that she is not one of the seven candidates the AFC has advertised for that NDC.
The 35-year-old woman said she smelt what seemed at be a lighted cigarette but added that, “a couple seconds after I saw a big flame outside through the window and I smelt like something burning…” She said she rushed to the upper flat of the house and woke her eldest daughter. When they ran out of the house, she said she saw a lighted carton box next to a concrete post and also discovered that kerosene was thrown on two wooden posts.
Permaul admitted that she did not see anyone in her yard. The man was released from Police custody at about 18:00h after Permaul never showed up at the Police Station when a confrontation was arranged by the Police. However, Beekham was asked to return to the station on Monday.
Only recently, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan appeared on a public televised programme aired in Berbice, entitled “Alliance on the move” and threatened Beekham saying that he will “fix” him.
On the programme, the Public Security Minister said Beekham had several fish pounds and he was going to, “give him trouble”.