Image of Opposition Leader Granger and gunman Fields removed from Facebook

WHY did the David Granger Facebook account suddenly take down an image of the Opposition Leader and gunman Kevin Fields hours after he was killed during a robbery?Old Kai cannot say he was surprised to have come across an image of Opposition Leader David Granger and gunman Kevin Fields which was tagged to the dead man’s Facebook page from Mr. Granger’s site back in 2012.

This photo of Opposition Leader David Granger and slain bandit Kevin Fields is still making the rounds on the social media, attracting a lot of comments and discussions

I am not imputing that there is a direct relationship between the two, as the image was taken at a funeral of Fields’ friend, Shaquille Grant, who ironically was killed by Police ranks during a confrontation in 2012 which eventually sparked the politically instigated Agricola public road violence.

However, what has aroused suspicion is the fact that hours after the youth was killed on Monday, the image of Granger and the youth was inexplicably taken down from Mr. Granger’s Facebook page, and as a result it is no longer available on Field’s timeline.

The only logical conclusion is that whoever is in control of Mr. Granger’s FB page felt there was need to hide this link from the public, only after Fields was killed and not before; because, as pointed out earlier, the image was posted since 2012.

‘DRESS TO KILL’: Slain bandit Kevin Fields in a photo taken off his Facebook page

 

Why the sudden desperation to cover this up and disassociate himself from the young man, when two years ago he was eager to associate with him in front of the cameras?

Was he ignorant of what this youth was up to, bearing in mind that upon perusing the young man’s Facebook page, there are some quite disturbing posts, including arsenals of weapons and ammunition. Also, a revolver from one of his posts bears a striking resemblance to the one he used to commit the robbery.

There are images of him with masks and a Rastafarian wig among other accessories; then there are the wads of cash and jewellery. There are also gruesome images of Fields and presumably his friends torturing someone, whom they hogtied. They seem pleased to be pictured burning their victim with cigarettes as they posed for the camera. Then there is a photo shopped image of himself, bearing the ‘hot skull’ logo, which is the name of a gang operating out of the community which the Police had warned about sometime back.

All of these disturbing posts occurred over the past few years, and there is a particular chilling post where he warned that whatever harm he does, do not hold him responsible as it is the work of his ‘demon.’ For this he is rebuked by an uncle, who states that he is ashamed to call him his nephew because of his lifestyle. It also appears that his step-father had warned him about his lifestyle which would result in his demise; but the step-father came in for attacks from other family members for his efforts in trying to straighten the lad out. In fact, there were those who were encouraging him not to flaunt his riches and arsenal of weapons on the social media, so as to attract attention.

Part of Kevin’s arms cache as revealed on his Facebook page

What this illustrates is that over the past four to five years of being active on the social network and documenting his activities, countless persons commented on his posts but there were only two individuals who opposed his actions, those being his step-father and his uncle. He was however unapologetic in stating that he will not stop the life he was living.

Thus what we can confirm now is that there were persons, especially within his community, who were aware of what he was up to. At least one of the two individuals who attempted to get him to straighten his life came in for abuse.

And this brings me back to Opposition Leader David Granger who claims he is genuinely concerned about the youths in this country.

It is public knowledge that Agricola is a stronghold of the PNCR, but even more so, the party has one of its offices in that community; so are we to believe that the party members in that village were ignorant of what youths such as Kevin Fields were up to, especially since his lifestyle was no secret?

Let us bear in mind that the issue of youths being involved in crime and gang activities in that particular village is nothing new, as pointed out above, Mr. Granger himself was present at the funeral of Shaquille Grant in 2012, and the party had publicised that they were conducting outreach exercises in the community. So despite all this evidence, were they still ignorant of what was going on or did they just conveniently ignore it, waiting for another incident so they can exploit it politically?

These are very pertinent questions, as if Mr. Granger was seriously concerned about these youths, especially in areas where his party has a significant presence, one would have thought that he would have been working in earnest to help them. Rather than cutting the budget for programmes that seek to provide training and employment for young people, he would have been advocating for more such programmes.

Rather than sit in the National Assembly and sneer at those who picket outside against their budget cuts which would see them jobless, he should have been working along with Government. Rather than attacking the outreach initiatives of the Guyana Police Force to improve community relations, through sports and other activities, Mr. Granger and his party should have been out there in the communities encouraging these youths to get involved.

But that is not going to happen. Old Kai has come to the conclusion that they will sit and wait until another youth is killed to go and parade around, beating their chests for the cameras and issuing press releases, simply to use the grief to rile up their bases against the Government; and when it does not suit their cause, they will simply do as they did on Monday evening, delete the link with Kevin Fields.