On the 2015 election campaign trail, President David Granger vowed that thorough inquiries would be held into the killings of former Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow ‘Sash’ Sawh and all who were slain during the troubled period spanning 2000 to 2008. But since assuming office, he is yet to fully make good on this promise.
During an interview with the Guyana Standard, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo reasoned that the Head of State could not honour his word since it was a ‘mere propaganda stunt, a political gimmick…”
Jagdeo said, “The APNU+AFC administration has used this issue as a propaganda tool against us… It is not working anymore. They had several chances in the last three years to investigate all these issues…But they squandered it. It is clear that the coalition administration had no interest in putting these matters to rest. Some of their supporters might want to say that ‘oh well they did the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry’ (CoI) but how fair and transparent was that process? Everything from the Terms of Reference to the witnesses who gave statements was flawed…”
The PPP General Secretary continued, “We have been calling for an inquiry into all the deaths in the 2000-2008 period, starting with the escape of the bandits … We were confident that if they did that, many of the leaders in the APNU would have been implicated and that is why they avoided that inquiry and they chose to just look at the Lindo Creek massacre…”
The former President added, “We are prepared today, tomorrow, the next day, the next month and next year to participate in any such inquiry…”
The last time President Granger spoke on his promise to probe the extrajudicial killings of the 2000-2008 period was in 2017. At that time, the Head of State said, “We are working on the evidence…It is still a commitment to the mothers of the children who either disappeared or died. We are collecting information, not in a formal way but some information has to be collected from various sources because many of the actual eyewitnesses have been killed during the troubles.”
Since then, the government has provided the nation with no update on this matter.
