It is amazing how casual we are about the security of our President, even though he is guarded by a specifically designated and dedicated unit called the “Presidential Guard”. It is our hope that the incident that occurred on Saturday morning would never be repeated. A civilian was allowed to breach security and reach close enough to a Presidential Guard at State House, where the First Family resides, and demand that he be allowed to see the President without being frisked. His demand rebuffed, he whipped out a knife that was secreted in his pants’ waist and stabbed the Guard five times without any other Guard interceding.
It would be the height of irresponsibility to not infer that this armed intruder, who wanted to see the President, might not have intended to use the weapon to assassinate the Head of State, as he attempted to do to this Guard by going straight for his neck.
After the stabbing, the assailant was then allowed to wrest a gun from another Guard. That she is female is immaterial, since all Presidential Guards should be trained at the same high level to perform their tasks. The now armed intruder fled onto New Market Street, where Presidential Guards returned fire at the gunman, who was hit in the head, abdomen and legs. Both he and the stabbed Guard were rushed to nearby GPHC, where the surgical staff immediately operated on them simultaneously. It is hoped the intruder would survive, so that he can be interrogated.
The above is in no way intended to criticize the individual Guards, but to serve as a commentary on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the unit when they are guarding the Presidential Residence. Over the last two years following the derailing of the PNC-Opposition rigging attempt, the said Opposition and their spokespersons – official and unofficial – have made increasingly personalised attacks on the President for allegedly discriminating against their supporters to such an extent as to create an “emerging apartheid state”. Such a description not only connotes extreme racist nature of Ali and his Government, but inevitably, the “necessary” violent reaction by the Opposition members of the ANC in the paradigmatic apartheid state of South Africa against state officials.
As such, those responsible for the Presidential security must ratchet up their SOPs at all events where the President appears. President Ali is undoubtedly a “people’s person”, and with an informal approach in executing his role to get up close and personal with ordinary citizens. This will undoubtably pose a further challenge to the Presidential Guard Unit, but there will have to be adjustments from both sides. We in Guyana have always lived in dangerous times fuelled by extremist exhortations from the Opposition. The “mo’ fyaah; slow fyaah” strategy of PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte led eventually to hundreds of deaths in our beleaguered country.
One intriguing facet of the entire episode is that it has been revealed that the would-be assassin is a citizen of Nigeria – Bethel Ikena Chimezie. “Chimezie” is an Igbo name –the tribe that dominates in eastern Nigeria. He is 25 years old, and arrived here in early 2020, according to one report, along with six other Nigerians. It is imperative that the immigration entry records at Timehri be checked on whether he arrived before the March 2020 elections. He was employed by a security firm – Amalgamated Security Services (Guyana) Inc – a month later, aged twenty-three. According to the Immigration laws, individuals who intend to work have to be in possession of documents from their prospective employers.
Amalgamated claimed in a press release that Chimezie had the requisite Police Certificate of Character for this type of work, which allows persons to bear arms. But since on the requisite form this Certificate is issued to Guyanese citizens, the Police must say what kind of background check was conducted for this foreigner. Amalgamated must be asked whether he also had “security” experience, and how this was verified. While Winston Felix was then head of the hived-off Immigration Department from Ramjattan’s Public Security Ministry, the former would have allowed Chimezie into the country, and the latter would have given him permission to bear arms.
