Dear Editor,
As I watched unprepared witnesses and evidence of poorly recorded witness statements, along with questions that needed to be asked but were never asked. I realized that it was hardly likely that the Linden Commission of Inquiry would bring justice to the people of Linden. I started out as a supporter of this Commission and took my seat daily in the hearing room, for as someone with roots n Linden I wanted to be a witness to the search for the truth. However what I witnessed was not a fact finding exercise but a gaggle of lawyers all fighting aggressively to protect their clients and witnesses who were grilled not so much to find the truth about what happened that day, but to establish grounds for unreliability and lack of credibility; add to that the Chairman of the commission allowing Attorneys to question witnesses outside of their brief. On Tuesday (October 16) I had enough when the Chairman of the proceedings Jamaican Justice Lensley Wolfe prematurely declared that there was no evidence to implicate Minister Clement Rohee. At that point this Commission like most things in Guyana in my opinion became a farce. Earlier Commissioner K D Knight, a man who knows a thing or two about struggle and dissent grilled Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon and Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon about why they did not tell the people to leave the Mackenzie–Wismar bridge. I am sure that these Commissioners are students of history and can appreciate and understand the role of civil disobedience in the struggle for human rights. I was disappointed that neither Sharma Solomon nor Vanessa Kissoon had the wherewithal to say to the commission that what they were participating in was no ordinary stroll but a struggle by the people of Linden for human rights and justice; that sitting on the bridge was an act of civil disobedience by a people who had been marginalised and neglected by a central government that frequently punished constituencies that did not support them at the polls. I would have expected to hear at least one of the leaders remind the commission that dissent is highest form of patriotism, especially against an unjust regime.
As it stands judging from the tone and posture of many of the commissioners, I would advise the people of Linden to start looking elsewhere for solutions and justice. For if this Commission continues down the path on which it is headed and some of the more aggressive government attorneys are not reined in by the Chairman then we will never find the truth.
Imagine the Guyana Police Force posits that after 2005, 00 shotgun cartridges were removed from the force’s inventory; this statement was taken at face value by the attorneys and no one probed the veracity of this statement; no one asked how the ammunition was disposed of, or whether or not it was disposed of. Further were 00 shotgun cartridges removed from all of the Divisional armouries? How are shotgun cartridges stored? Who has access to the armoury? Is it a practice for senior ranks to have personal ammunition? Who were the Special Branch ranks and what type of weapons did they have? Were there any other special or covert units that were deployed to Linden on or around the 18th July 2012? These are just a few of the questions that are begging to be asked. Also the police said that Assistant Superintendent Todd and his unit were sent to Linden to engage in crowd control. Yet on close examination of the unit’s dress and equipment they were clearly not equipped for such a task. Where were their shields? Where were the gas masks and why was the Water Cannon not part of the deployment? Why did Todd assume the role of Rambo, rendering his unit leaderless?
Editor I saw Attorneys and Commissioners grilling Vanessa Kissoon for failing to mention a police officer’s name on a statement. For my Jamaican and Trinidadian friends, it is not the norm for Guyanese people to finger police officers without first being given adequate protection.
So I will not waste my time following this Commission of Inquiry any longer, but despite all I have said I do wish that the people of Linden can get justice. History will one day absolve all those who struggled and lost their lives on that day, and justice will be served. For how can you justify the use of lethal force when no life or property was threatened? How do you open fire on unarmed women and children engaged in a human rights struggle? Whatever happens, July 18th will forever live as a day of infamy in the annals of the Guyana Police Force.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Archer
