Home Top Stories “Their currency is fear and election rigging, not justice for Adrianna” –...
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the violence that unfolded across Guyana over the past few days were a deliberate ploy by the People’s National Congress-led A Partnership for National Unity (PNC/APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) opposition, which has used the tragic death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge as political tool to drive fear and terror among Guyanese.
“APNU’s currency is rigging elections and spreading fear. They’ve done it historically at elections time to create a sense of unease in the population. And that was the purpose of this exercise – not justice for Adriana. Because we want the same thing, we want to know what happened with this child but they were not there for that. Their objective was terror,” Jagdeo stated at his weekly press conference on Wednesday.
According to the Vice President, a clear example of the opposition politicizing of the young girl’s death is the press briefing that was held on Wednesday by the AFC along with other political groupings near the hotel where Adrianna was found dead last week.
“It’s capitalizing on people’s grief, their anguish, their tragedy. It’s a low-life sort of behaviour… It’s totally disgusting,” Jagdeo contended.
Mobilised to create fear
The discovery of the girl’s body in the pool at the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) on Thursday last had sparked fiery protests across the country and these actions escalated on Monday after a forensic autopsy determined the child drowned.
Violence erupted outside the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Monday evening, as initially peaceful protests were hijacked by rogue opposition elements shouting anti-Government rhetoric. What began as a solemn call for justice rapidly descended into chaos, as demonstrators hurled bottles, stones, and other objects at police officers who had been deployed to maintain order.
The situation escalated later that night with persons damaging and breaking into several businesses across Georgetown, looting them.
According to Jagdeo, though some persons on the protest line were genuinely concerned about justice, there were a lot of people outside the hospital who were mobilised there to create mayhem. In fact, he noted that intelligence, which he promised would be released, traced the mobilisation back to “political actors,” who are capitalizing on the death of the young girl.
“A lot of the people there were mobilised and led by individuals who are associated with the PNC and the AFC. They are led by them. The signals were coming from them. They were directing people how to act…to create this air of unease and bring discomfort and spread fear,” he stated.
The vice president believes that situation got out of control on Monday after criminal elements joined the mobilised groupings and started looting several businesses.
Following the unrest that erupted across the country on Monday night, the Guyana Government has instituted a national curfew that banned any public gathering from 00:30h to 05:00h.
Moreover, Government has embarked on a campaign to arrest and charged those individuals who are caught in photos and videos committing criminal acts – whether starting fires on the roadways or looting.
In fact, on Wednesday, 43 of these persons were placed before the courts facing Inciting Terror and Larceny charges.
A pattern of behaviour
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, has blamed the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) for the mayhem that ensued over the past few days. Saying in a video statement on Monday night that it was the PPP that is using “criminal elements and 10-day workers” to infiltrate protests and create mayhem.
According to VP Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary of the PPP, Norton’s claims are not surprising and is reflective of the PNC’s historical behaviour to first generate fear and then throw the blame back at the PPP.
Jagdeo further called out the Opposition Leader for criminalising the more than 15,000 persons, mainly women, from across the country who have been employed under the part-time workers’ initiative, which gives 10-day employment to participants to earn $40,000 per month.
“That’s their modus operandi. So, generate the fear in the country, which suits their political purpose, then when the people are beaten or robbed… or there is arson done or looting, then distance yourself from it. This is typical APNU-AFC way of operating… This is a pattern of behaviour that they’ve had…”
“That’s the difference: the PPP works at bringing people together not harming them. We want people to own things, not to burn things. We want our kids to be educated, we’re providing education for them, all of these youngsters, to get a job etc. – that’s what we’re working towards. We believe in inclusion, not mobilising them or keeping them uneducated or with a victims mind- set so you can mobilise them for your political cause when you have incidents like this. That’s what PNC wants to do; it’s their approach,” the PPP General Secretary posited.
The Vice President went on to reiterate government’s intention to use the full force of the law against those who continue to incite terror and create fear amongst the population. He pointed out that the acid attack on the teachers and children at Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara, on Monday, was another orchestration that was designed to spread fear.
Pupils and teachers of the Chateau Margot Primary School were injured after a corrosive substance was thrown on them while on the road.
Serious action, he stated, would be taken against the perpetrators, who were caught on video, and are likely to face attempt murder charges.
”Wild speculations”
The PPP General Secretary also used the opportunity during Wednesday’s press conference to reject “wild speculations” that the 11-year-old girl was sacrificed by the party to win the upcoming elections – a claim which Jagdeo says is “disparaging” to the entire Hindu faith.
“We’ve won elections because we’ve work hard for people’s support and you see it every day; that’s why we win elections. And we’ve been respectful of people of every faith and there are of this party…”
“Only ungodly people will push this sort of thing; demonic people really will push this sort of thing – and it’s vile that they would actually desecrate the memory of this child by saying someone sacrificed her. And this comes all the time from the Opposition and those associated with them… We don’t engage in that sort of thing… we don’t believe in this demonic sort of thing,” the PPP General Secretary stressed.
