Dear Editor,
If the continued fall-out from the Mon Repos debacle, following the controversial shooting death of Quindon Bacchus, does not stir this PPP government to snap out of its obsession with its self-enrichment through self-empowerment agenda, then the next social explosion, like a sitting time bomb, is just waiting to be ignited.
I have literally read more letters condemning the Mon Repos attacks and destruction than the actual shooting of Bacchus, which itself deserves a candid review given that, so far, we have witnessed the controversial shootings of Guyanese – from the Linden trio to the PNC protestors in Georgetown to Courtney Crum-Ewing at Diamond to Orin Boston in Essequibo to now Bacchus – and the name Clifton Hicken keeps popping up as the senior police officer being called on to provide answers.
Some published letters were more scathing of the Guyana Police Force than of the PPP government. Some writers either refused or failed to see the Police Force as a tool or weapon in the hands of the government. The motto to ‘Protect and Serve’ appears directed more towards the government than to the people. This did not happen overnight. I even blogged a response to a letter from former ROAR founder and ex-MP, Ravi Dev, reminding him of his well-publicized concerns back in the 90s over the PPP government’s lack of a proper response to deplorable attacks on Indo-Guyanese by rogue elements during protests against the newly elected Cheddi Jagan regime.
I then asked Dev: What exactly has changed about the PPP government’s reaction to attacks on Indo-Guyanese in the 1990s and at Mon Repos? I have not read Dev’s response, but here’s my take: the PPP government’s priorities supersede the people’s priorities. While Dev’s ROAR was gaining traction among Indo-Guyanese, it was Janet Jagan who pleaded with Indo-Guyanese voters not to ‘split the vote’ in the run-up to the 2001 elections. The stark difference? Dev was concerned about the well-being of Indo-Guyanese, Mrs. Jagan was concerned about keeping the PPP in power. The PPPs priorities have not changed over two decades later.
While I have no idea whether the initial peaceful protest over Bacchus’ death was subsequently infiltrated by paid disruptors, as was constantly claimed during the 1990s protests and thereafter, the fact that the PPP government apparently failed to ensure the Golden Grove protest remained peaceful should serve as an indicator where this government’s priorities lie. No amount of financial compensation will allay deep-seated fears of recurrences. The protests of the 1990s apparently spilled over into the new millennium, with the Mash Day 2002 jailbreak spawning the worst crime spree in Guyana. Police Officers and innocent citizens were brutally murdered. The spree culminated with the rise of the so-called Phantom Squad, led by Roger Khan.
The Jagdeo-led government, already caught in its own web of systemic corruption, was so overwhelmed by the spree that two of its sitting Cabinet ministers relied on Khan, who put out a newspaper ad touting how he ‘saved the PPP government’ from collapsing. One minister used government stationery to purchase a spy equipment from a Florida-based company, which only sells such equipment to governments. The equipment ended up in Khan’s hands. A Joint Services reconnaissance team caught Khan with the equipment at Good Hope and seized it. The other minister ordered the equipment returned to Khan because it was being ‘used for the purpose which it was intended’. Khan was pursued out of Guyana to Suriname and caught there, then sent to Trinidad where he was renditioned to the US on drug smuggling charges. I can still recall Bharrat Jagdeo fuming over the entire pursuit and renditioning exercise, but the fact that the PPP government actually leaned on Khan, instead of asking CARICOM or the Commonwealth nations for help halting the spree, really said a lot about the PPPs priorities.
When the spree grounded to a halt, Jadgeo wrote to the British government requesting help with security sector reforms; especially for the overwhelmed Police Force. The British government responded swiftly, approving a security sector reform package worth 4.9 million pounds sterling. Jagdeo’s prayer was answered. Or so we thought. The Jagdeo regime balked when it read one of the conditions. Dr. Roger Luncheon later explained the condition would have compromised Guyana’s sovereignty, because the British Government wanted to use live ammunition in Guyana’s hinterland as part of security sector training and reforms. But then the British government offered a bombshell clarification that the British Police did conduct the planned hinterland exercise without the use of live ammunition, while another condition in the reforms
package that called for British Police personnel to work alongside Guyana’s Police personnel hit a brick wall.
What every Guyanese – especially Indo-Guyanese who decry the Police Force’s performance – should be asking themselves is why did the Jagdeo regime reject the British offer in 2009? Did it want to hide the extent of government corruption, or, did it want to copycat the PNC government and have a Police Force over which it can exert political control? After all, a genuinely reformed Police Force would not only go after street criminals, but also those in political power. What Guyanese witnessed at Mon Repos was not merely a manifest abdication of responsibility or a dereliction of duty by the Police, it was a direct result of years of politicization of the Police Force, dating back to the Forbes Burnham era and continuing to this day. The 64-million-dollar question is how to change this narrative? 2025 offers us yet another golden opportunity to reverse the curse of the last 60 years, and Mon Repos definitely does not have to be a prequel to another sequel.
Sincerely,
Emile Mervin
