Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 03, 2013 Editorial
The Linden Commission of Inquiry (L-CoI) has presented its report to the President, who has circulated it to the other two political parties in the National Assembly – APNU and the AFC.
The two most significant conclusions that were reached by the Commission were that the police were responsible for the deaths of the three Lindeners and that the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, was in no way culpable.
We are sure that in the coming months there will be widespread discussions and debates about the findings of the L-CoI and this is as it should be in any well functioning democracy.
But it is our hope that matters will be confined to this level. All the political parties agreed to the formation of a CoI after the unfortunate deaths – and more to the point, the Opposition parties, which had organised the protests, were granted their demand that the CoI have a ‘foreign’ component.
We assume that this latter demand was to increase the probability of an impartial Inquiry, and since the foreign element was dominant there ought not to be second guessing on this crucial point.
On the matter of Minister’s possible culpability, the Report was unequivocal: “There was no evidence given at the hearings before the commission to support the assertion that the minister gave instructions to the GPF in relation to the incident in Linden on July 18th, other than testimony from the minister that he gave a general direction on July 17, 2012 to the Commissioner that he should take all lawful steps to maintain law and order in Linden.”
In determining ‘responsibility’ for the deaths of three Lindeners and the wounding of several others the Report interestingly reached its conclusions based on no direct evidence, “We believe that the police were responsible for the shooting to death of the three persons as well as the injuries caused to several other persons at Linden on July 18, 2012, as there is no evidence that anyone else had a firearm which was discharged.”
That is, the CoI reasoned that since it was shown that only the police were shooting at the time, even though the bullets were not proven to be the ones they used, the latter could possibly have come from them. In a court of law, this sort of circumstantial evidence would have been totally insufficient to convict the policemen, but the CoI’s findings demonstrate the differing standards governing the operations of CoI’s versus a court of law.
In the latter, guilt ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ would have had to be proven.
We believe that the CoI attempted to do what was equitable so that the victims of the shootings could receive some level of compensation. There has already been some dissatisfaction expressed by some at the quantum of the specific compensation packages and we hope that such sentiments will not be exploited for short-sighted goals.
We have to look ahead and work within the bigger picture of what other measures were taken to improve the overall economic opportunities in Linden.
Looking at the even bigger picture, in a totally coincidental manner, the Speaker of the House and the Chief Justice both (independently) pronounced that the right of Minister Rohee to speak in the House – either as an MP or as a Minister of the Government cannot be taken away by even a majority of the House, which the Opposition commands.
The confluence of the two circumstances, exonerating the Minister, so to speak, cannot be ignored by the House. The rule of law, under which our very civilisation is founded, demands that we must obey the law when we were part and parcel of forming those laws.
We might, on occasion, disagree on the workings of one of more of those laws, but our system very painstakingly outlines, the way to go about changing those laws. And reflexively resorting to street protests is not the recommended way as we, along with MP Trotman, were all reminded by the Head of the L-CoI.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
Apr 25, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – The French Diplomatic Office in Guyana, in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association and UNICEF, hosted an exhibition on Tuesday evening at the...Kaieteur News – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, persists in offering... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]