President David Granger and the Government of Guyana extend deepest sympathy to the families and other relatives of the 16 prisoners who perished during a riot at the Georgetown Prison today. A statement a few minutes ago from the Ministry of the Presidency said Mr Granger “is deeply saddened at the loss of life and has ordered the immediate establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the circumstances and causes of this tragedy to ensure that there is never a recurrence”.
The President assures the family members of the deceased and injured that everything will be done to ensure that there is a full and complete investigation.
President Granger, at an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), which he called this afternoon, instructed Minister of Public Security Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan to set up the three-member Commission, which will not only investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths, but will also make recommendations to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents.
The names of the members of this Commission are expected to be made public by tomorrow.
The President has also mandated that every effort be made to ensure that the situation is brought under immediate control.
Will the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) come out and say something?
If the PPP/C was the Gov’t they would have already make a comment and pronouncement.
Granger orders immediate investigation into Prison disturbances – expresses sympathy to affected families.
They see you pardon what you called petty criminals– those same petty criminals who steal your phone or your chain are not petty — once you challenge them to take back your stuff they beat the living crap out of you or even kill you with their guns.monkey see monkey do– they are telling you they want their freedom now like the others..yall ent got rohee no more to whip.. yall ent got ppp to whip now.
Deepest condolences to the families of those that perished. this is another sad indicator that all is not well in Guyana. Prison overcrowding has been the norm in Guyana and the wider CARICOM member states with funds that are allocated to house the prison populace being illegally diverted by the various line ministers to fund their cadillac lifestyles whilst human beings are rendered to the status of barnyard animals.
Given the petulant nature of the powers that be in Guyana – it is highly unlikely to expect a decent, fact based investigation to come out of this because no one will want to take responsibility. Rest assured that there will more than likely be massive cover-ups and pathological testimonies being rendered from various quarters and in the end – the deaths of those that have perished thus far will more than likely be in vain whilst evidence will tampered with, witnesses silenced or discredited and this will then join the recent Rodney Commission of Inquiry to condemned to the dung heap of Guyana (like everything else).
If we are to truly believe that anything good or even a shred of same will come from any such inquiry then President Granger must do the right thing in convening an international team to conduct such an inquiry and must include representatives from the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the local chapter of Transparency International.
Anything less will be seen as another attempt to hoodwink the long suffering, general populace and thus sweep this whole unfortunate episode under the carpet. Whilst he is at it – The President of Guyana will be doing this besieged nation a huge favour by immediately relieving Minister Khemraj Ramjattan given alienating disposition, confrontational nature and zero popularity with the masses.
May the Almighty bring respite to those that now grief amidst the loss of their loved ones.