Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo thinks that the government’s “reluctance” to hold a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the alleged killing of 400 Afro-Guyanese is an attempt to keep under wraps the alleged role played by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) during one of the darkest periods in Guyana’s post-independence history.
Jagdeo said that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) may have to hold the inquiry to clear its name.
At his most recent engagement with the media, Jagdeo made reference to a Stabroek News article, which chronicled the number of deaths during the period February 23, 2002, to September 2006.
Zeroing in on the contents of that article, Jagdeo said that it adds some amount of clarity to what occurred during that time and, it also “debunks” the claim that during the PPP’s reign in government, it was hellbent on killing black youths.
Jagdeo said, “They would have been exposed had Granger held a Commission of Inquiry into this period, and that’s why he avoided it like a plague. They knew that they were telling a lie to people. They knew that a lot of the people in that period, who were killed were policemen and ordinary people – especially policemen and soldiers, who were confronting the bandits…It was an insurgency…Who do you think were the intellectual authors of the freedom fighters?
Jagdeo noted that the “truth” has to come out someday, and only then will the nation have some amount of closure.
“They will not hold it (COI), we may have to hold it – the truth will come out (about) what took place in that period. And then, we will see the role people like [Winston] Felix (the former Commissioner of Police, now a government minister) and maybe some of the others, who were in the Guyana Police Force (GPF)”, said Jagdeo.
The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), while it was in opposition, would often refer to the “dark period” or the “troubled years” of Jagdeo rule when black youths were allegedly made a target. PNCR also alleged that Jagdeo and other top-ranking PPP leaders had blood on their hands. Those accusations continue today.
