This is about decent people fighting a band of bandits – President Jagdeo tells Barticians
Georgetown, GINA, February 19, 2008
“This is not about politics, religion or race; this is about decent people of this country fighting a band of bandits. All the decent people of this country have to give support to the Joint Services.”
This was told to residents of Bartica today by President Bharrat Jagdeo during a meeting at the New Modern Hotel on the attack on their community
President Jagdeo returned home after cancelling meetings in New York. After being briefed about the situation at Bartica, he immediately travelled to the mining town, where he was met by the Chairman of Region Seven Holbert Knights, and several businessmen and other regional officials.
President Jagdeo then visited the police station which was the first building to have come under attack. He also visited the businesses and homes of persons who were killed in the assault. A special meeting with representatives from the community was convened at the New Modern Hotel where residents were given the opportunity to express their views.
President Jagdeo told residents that he was out of the country “when this practically unbearable situation occurred” but he said he was in touch with a number of persons in Guyana even as the attack was taking place trying to find out what was happening. He immediately cut short his stay and booked the first flight home.
“This community has been a peaceful community for a very long time in our history that has never experienced anything close to this. Therefore, people are traumatized and I can understand it. I saw the same fear a few weeks ago on the East Coast Demerara (after the Lusignan massacre). The communities were fearful since they did not know where else these people would strike. That fear still exists on the East Coast,” he said.
“From what I was told there seemed to have been a dual motive: robbery and to kill and create terror. There is no other way to justify the killing of innocent people,” he lamented. “We know it is the same group that did it in Lusignan, only a psychopath can do this, someone who has no conscience, feeling and a group who don’t care about consequences.”
President Jagdeo said that he believed the only way to end this is to go after the bandits and find them since you can’t reason with people who commit these types of crimes. He said that the Joint Services are going to work day after day until they find them. The army is clearing the backlands of Buxton where they were hiding out so they do not have that safe haven anymore.
Two special Joint Services units have been established and given the task to find those responsible for these killings.
He told residents that the national security plan has been passed by Parliament. The 2008 Budget has set aside about US $1M to upgrade the capability of the Security Forces to purchase helicopters and a number of other equipment.
“This is a small group of persons who will strike and move, this is not widespread, but because it is a small group it is easy for them to move around and do this anywhere. As President I can only give the resources and encouragement to the Security Forces. They (the Joint Services) are the people who have to go after the criminals and in this regard they have my full support,” he said.
With reference to the many people including leaders of political parties commenting on what should be done, the President said that he has told them tell us what they feel we were not doing. However, there were no suggestions being made, only criticisms.
He said that since the reward has been offered for Rondel Rawlins, Guyana’s most wanted, there has been a flood of calls to report sightings and the police are evaluating the calls.
“We will be maintaining the Army and Police presence in Bartica while we hunt these criminals down. Clearly from what I saw, these people were working with inside knowledge which may indicate that they would have had help from people in Bartica.
“The police will have to find those that have supported them, from the way they went into the police station they knew exactly where everything was. The discussions with the persons who were robbed revealed that they knew where things were even the light switches and the cameras. This was not random they had a lot of intelligence this was carefully planned.” The President said.
He told residents that the Army and Police will remain in Bartica so residents can rest assured that in the event that something happens the response capability is here and they could respond.
“I cannot promise that there will not be a recurrence. I cannot get into the mind of the criminals and say where next they would go. I cannot give that assurance unless we get these people. This is going to repeat itself in another part of the country,” the President warned.
President Jagdeo told residents that on the East Coast Demerara, after the trauma, he worked with residents to establish Community Policing Groups. These groups are not meant to confront and fight bandits, but they offer a greater presence on the ground. They are to serve as the eyes and ears of the police on the ground and they can remove the element of surprise. “I hope that you can develop a strong group at Bartica so that you can have more weapons and better trained people to help patrol the area,” he said.
Regional Chairman Holbert Knights said that for a long time residents of Bartica felt safe from the crime that was affecting the country. That sense of safety was shattered on Sunday. It was the worst tragedy that the community has ever experienced and persons were still in shock. Last night they slept in groups because they were afraid to sleep in their homes on their beds.
Several residents said that they were happy that the President had returned to Guyana to be there with them. They offered suggestions, varying from arming the Community Policing Group with more powerful weapons to paying better salaries to the police to attract more persons to the Force.
President Jagdeo told residents that the policing groups were mainly to serve as the eyes and ears of the police and not to confront bandits. He said on the question of giving more powerful weapons to the Policing groups, there is a fear that they may fall into the hands of bandits since they are better trained than the civilians who would have these weapons.
Residents also appealed to the President to resume hanging as a deterrent to these kinds of crimes. The President assured residents that he was in support of hanging and had in fact signed warrants that were held up in the Court process waiting to be executed. He told citizens that they can help in this regard by petitioning the Chancellor of the Judiciary to speed up the Court process for the warrant that is signed so that they could be executed.
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President meets with IRO, other stakeholders
-groups want joint condemnation statement by political parties
Georgetown, GINA, February 19, 2008-02-19
Following a lengthy meeting with representatives of a wide cross section of the society including the Inter-Religious Organisations (IRO) and the private sector, many requested that there be a combined statement by all political parties condemning criminal activities currently gripping the country and which have spread fear among citizens.
Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Bishop Juan Edghill stated that the bodies feel that there must be unequivocal condemnation from all.
“There must be no safe havens; nobody must benefit form this politically, socially, financially or in any way. This is not something we want in Guyana. Our politics does not include criminal activity being used to drive fear and terror in the country,” Edghill firmly said.
The Bishop noted that the meeting was one of the most candid, frank engagements the bodies have had with the President and civil society since he has been holding his post.
Meanwhile, one representative from the Hindu community believes that more dialogue is needed on the issue and this will allow for more discussions on ways in which the situation could be addressed.
Another from the Muslim community believes that the crime situation stems from youths who have been idle in society, who have no proper examples to follow and the breakdown of morals in the society as persons who are supposed to be respected have become less respected.
He pointed out that many who hold high positions and who are supposed to be setting examples have not been doing so, with family values lacking and an increase in infidelity and greed.
The representative believes several citizens are moving further away from God and goodness and this is causing a major breakdown in the moral fabric of the society.
Meanwhile, others expressed the hope that Guyanese would form a united front to deal with the situation and to get it under control.
The stakeholders are expected to meet again with the Head of State tomorrow. The meeting follows another brutal slaying by gunmen, this time at Bartica on Sunday night last, which took the lives of 13 persons.
On January 26, heavily armed gunmen invaded the homes of residents of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara killing eleven persons.
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President meets Parliamentary Opposition parties
-to discuss crime situation
Georgetown, GINA, February 19, 2008
Head of State, Bharrat Jagdeo today met with Parliamentary Opposition Party Leaders during a high-level meeting at the Office of the President where the focus was the crime situation which has gripped the country and which has seen heavily armed gunmen slaughtering dozens of persons in less than a month.
The Leaders that met the President included Main Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) and Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan of the Alliance for Change (AFC).
The meeting was called following the brutal and senseless killing of 13 persons on Sunday evening last at Bartica, Region Seven during an invasion of the usually quiet town by heavily armed gunmen. Among the dead were policemen, fishermen and other civilians. Most of the victims were struck down by hails of bullets as the gunmen invaded businesses, shot civilians indiscriminately through the streets and brutally shot execution style a number of fishermen and others on the stelling leading to the community.
The vicious attack followed an earlier one in the community of Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara on January 26 where 11 persons were killed when a similar gang of gunmen invaded homes, killing all in sight, including women and children as they slept.
The notorious criminal believed to be heading the gang which killed the first group of persons is Guyana’s most wanted, Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins who has been evading capture by the Police for a number of years.
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