Red House debacle: Injustice of an oppressive Govt will be recognised- Jagdeo

By Ramona Luthi

In light of the President’s decision to have the lease to the Red House, Cheddi Jagan Research Center (CJRC) revoked, Former President and current Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo while describing the act as unbelievable and unconscionable disclosed that an injunction has been filed and the matter will be fought in court.

“We’ve seen this unconscionable act of the President to revoke the lease of the Red House. This is a vindictive act and it demonstrates the nature of this government,” Jagdeo said during the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) end of year press conference earlier today.

Jagdeo recalled the significance of the Cheddi Jagan Research Center and the role that Dr Cheddi Jagan played in Guyana’s history, during the pre-independence era.

“… The fight for democracy and to rebuild our country. No one should deny him a special place  in the hearts of all Guyanese,” he stated.

According to Jagdeo for the current administration to take away a center of “that age, tribute, that houses his (Cheddi Jagan) work that would allow the generations of Guyanese to follow his life and his struggle for freedom and dignity is an unbelievable act and can only come from a warped mind.”

He asserted that this decision will be challenged in the court of law, expressing optimism that the “injustice by a government that is becoming more oppressive” will be recognized.

Meanwhile, General Secretary of PPP, Clement Rohee, in a media release posited that this is one of the “most callous actions taken by any President in the history of modern day politics and flies in the face of the APNU-AFC claims of forging a climate of peace, tolerance and national reconciliation.”

According to Rohee, the latest action by President Granger is not only an assault on the legacy of Dr Jagan but one that is highly “provocative, vindictive, insensitive and divisive.”

Even more appalling, he said,  is the fact that the CJRC was given twenty-four hours to vacate the premises and remove over fifty years of accumulated  material and artifacts some of which are required to be handled with care and delicacy.

The move by the government to “chase the occupants out of Red House and to convert it to the exclusive use by the Granger administration is another manifestation of the philistine and autocratic behavior by the Granger administration as was demonstrated on his part by its attempt to occupy the Walter Roth Museum against the wishes of the Amerindian people and cultural rights activists through out the country” Rohee asserted.

Additionally, during the late hours of this afternoon, it has been alleged by members of the PPP that government officials broke into to the Red House premises and tore down the “Cheddi Jagan Research Center” sign, while barring the entrance to the building.

As such, PPP MP’s quickly took to restoring the sign while lambasting the government for “their unprofessional and unjust methods.”

President Granger had yesterday ordered that the lease for the Red House be revoked and that the occupants vacate the property by December 31, 2016.

Granger had also directed to State Minister, Joseph Harmon, that the building be assigned to house “The National Trust of Guyana, its staff, stores and equipment”, currently housed in the Valerie Rodway Building on Carmichael Street, with effect from January 1, 2017, “where it would be better able to fulfil its mandate to preserve Guyana’s national patrimony and to promote an appreciation for the nation’s heritage.”