WPA urges inclusive solution to security crisis

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) says more than ever the national security crisis demands a national solution, and suggests that this “can only be forged by a coming together of all social and political forces in a truly inclusive Guyanese effort.”

The WPA further contends that this is not a crisis that the political parties on their own can hope to solve as that has been tried in the past and has failed. And according to the party in a release yesterday, “The country is not in a mood for more failure.”

Meanwhile, the WPA expressed “extreme concern” over the conditions laid down by President Bharrat Jagdeo for discussing with Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin the rapidly deteriorating security situation into which Guyana has plunged.

The killings at Lusignan, the party noted, underscore the depth of the crisis confronting citizens and cry out for an urgent solution that will take Guyana out of the morass of decay and degradation in which it has fallen. This is not a time for quibbling and for scoring cheap political points, the WPA warned.

According to the party, “It is a time for confronting the situation head on,” and “President Jagdeo’s latest public utterances and the antics of government and party spokespersons on their TV channels are helping to worsen an already bad situation.” The WPA further advised that confronting the situation head-on must not include what it referred to as the “harassing of citizens going about their legitimate business, the wanton destruction of people’s property, the wholesale arrests of African Guyanese men, and the traumatizing of elderly citizens by the security forces.”

The security forces, if they are to be effective, need the support of the communities and they will only win that support when they begin to conduct themselves with decency and professionalism while carrying out their functions, the WPA said.

And the party also pointed out that “They cannot get information and cooperation from citizens who feel themselves set upon and brutalized.”