Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon is taking President Irfaan Ali to task over comments the Head of State made yesterday about persons being raped in West Coast Berbice by protestors, who have taken to the streets following the gruesome killing of 16-year-old Isaiah and 19-year-old Joel Henry.
In his address to the nation, Ali said, inter alia, that “raping people’s children has nothing to do with justice”. But there has been no confirmation by the police that there were indeed reports of such.
Questions regarding the President’s claim have been posted to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), but no response on these inquiries have been provided to date.
Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon in an address to the nation minutes ago, said that Ali’s statement is irresponsible and false.
“The APNU+AFC condemns in the strongest possible terms, the irresponsible and false statements made yesterday by President Irfaan Ali and suggests that he reviews the competence of his speech writers,” he said.
He added that the comments made by the Head of State were premeditated and designed to incite the public and stoke ethnic animosity among Guyanese.
“There are no known police reports of rape at the recent protest actions, yet Mr. Ali in his statement – among other charges – said ‘raping people’s children has nothing to do with justice’. What rape, Mr. Ali? This is a figment of your speech writer’s imagination. You may be entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. You’re baselessly branding protestors as rapists. It is disrespectful, contemptuous, and expression of disdain for those Guyanese who are enraged at the heinous killing of Isaiah and Joel Henry, and most recently Haresh Singh, and Chatterpaul Harripaul,” he said.
Harmon said that Ali’s statement on persons being raped, is patently and wholly false…He said that this “specter” of rape is being used by the administration to “fearmonger and incite the pubic towards hostility”.
