Casino gambling legislation is a means by which criminal elements in Guyana can conceal their various activities including extra-judicial killings and a number of other illegal activities.

PNCR-IG Leader and Opposition Leader Robert Corbin levelled this charge when he addressed persons gathered at Parliament Buildings yesterday following a protest march co-sponsored by his party.

He told persons there that casino gambling would provide a “lovely smokescreen” for drug lords who have engaged in extra-judicial killings and promoted phantom squads among other things.

Corbin urged that Guyanese not underestimate what the government plans to do today in Parliament.

This is why, the Opposition Leader said, the party had invited other organizations to co-sponsor the rally yesterday noting that it was a struggle for not only certain sectors but for all Guyanese.

“If the police cannot control a march how can they control gangsterism?” Corbin queried. “Tell your bosses,” he said to the police, “that the people at the rally chose to behave responsibly.”

Referring to events in Georgia and other places the PNCR leader reminded his supporters that history has shown that people have power in their hands to bring the government to its senses. This is a challenge, he said, presented by a government that has such arrogance that it does what it likes irrespective of what the people desire.

The battle is not won by those sitting on the sidelines, Corbin said, noting that they had told the government based on their own research that 16% was too high a rate for the Value Added Tax (VAT). The opposition is suggesting that VAT be charged at 8%. The PNCR leader recalled that party representative Winston Murray had met with the government and told it that the rate proposed for VAT would be unbearable on the poor.

“The authorities are not ready for the implementation of VAT… and they have to get relief or the people of the country would die,” said Corbin.