Joint Services brought welcome normalcy to communities negatively affected by Linden unrest- Dr. Luncheon
Georgetown, GINA, August 13, 2012 -- Source - GINA
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon during a Press Secretary Daily Brief at the Office of the President today gave an update on the Linden unrest and advised that currently the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge is secured and that portions of the road along Burnham Drive are under the control of the Joint Services.
He said that over the last two days on the eastern side, opening of the bridge has clearly shown the intentions of the residents in Mackenzie; they are now able to move freely, travelling to and from destinations including Georgetown.
Businesses are starting to reopen and banks will be replenishing their ATMs more often and will be open to the public.
Traffic moving across MacKenzie-Wismar bridge, August 13, 2012
“The aftermath of the Joint Services intervention in Linden and particularly on the Mackenzie side has clearly shown what was being denied by protestors, who have been vanquished by the Joint Services,” the Cabinet Secretary stated.
In the early hours of Friday August 10, protestors assembled on the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge and attempted to burn it down. On both sides of the river, as well protestors came out, and several buildings, both public and private, were razed to the ground.
The HPS explained that these incidents were relayed to Commander in Chief, President Donald Ramotar, who issued direction for the Joint Services that were mobilising for an activity on Saturday to bring forward the date of movement in Linden to Friday morning.
Subsequently, on 7:30am on Friday morning, the Joint Services moved into Linden and in a short while the eastern side of the River was cleared and open. They then moved to the western side of the river, where protestors had occupied and ultimately managed to secure that side as well.
By Sunday, the Joint Services were prepared and fully moved into Wismar, where they engaged protestors who confronted the law enforcement and security detachments with Molotov cocktails and firebombs; destroying military vehicles and injuring military service men.
With regards to media reportage on the issue, the HPS lamented that hardly a word has appeared in the press, particularly the hostile media, that even questions much less repudiates this assertion about peaceful protest.
He said that the fact that arson and firebombing are rampant, Molotov cocktails are being thrown, bridges and roads blocked forcibly and there is active and consistent prevention of clearing of blockages did not arouse the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Kaieteur News or the Demerara Waves to pronounce even once on “ how peaceful is peaceful”.
Dr. Luncheon recalled that voices were raised in all sorts of diatribe because Government officials would not enter Linden; however, when the President announced his intention to visit on July 27, these same people, by dint of their propaganda and efforts, prevented his entry into Linden.
He also lamented that fact that the Joint Services have attracted condemnation from the hostile media for attempting to clear blockages and restore order.
“The absurdity in which they take Guyanese intelligence for granted that the PPP/C is responsible for the arson…this is what they would foist on the Guyanese people,” he said.
President Donald Ramotar has insisted that there must be a return to normalcy and has conceded that peaceful protest is a right that he respects as this has and, continues to be an essential aspect of the political expression of the PPP/C Administration even before 1992.
He concluded that, “the damage that has been done has been enormous, but with the will and commitment of the players for a productive end point; we will see a conclusion of the conflict; we will see a return to normalcy; we will see a resolution of the issue of the tariff as well as those out on the table by the representatives of Region 10. It is indeed sad that the developments that have taken place since then, have indeed taken place and will take tremendous efforts for us to undo and for Linden to continue to progress according to the intention of the PPP/C Administration.”
Meanwhile Advisor to the President Gail Teixeira in recounting the several meetings Government has had with the Opposition and the Region Ten administration from July 23 to August 8, said consistently the Government tried to ensure that an agreement was had.
“What is very clear when one examines the contents of the meetings is that the Region 10 delegation, in particular a number of persons on that delegation were not in great haste to reach a resolution.”
The Terms of Reference agreed on July 2, based on their proposal for a technical team, were sent to them on July 24, but it took until the July 31 meeting for there to be some kind of verbal response to what the Government had presented verbally and in writing to Region 10.
Saying that they were stalling for time, Teixeira recounted that on August 8 the discussion had come to the point where the Terms of Reference were initialled by Dr. Luncheon and Mr. Sharma Solomon, Region 10 Chairman, and that Government asked that there be a return to normalcy, but they did not commit to having the blockades removed.
Teixeira emphasised that Government had been very clear in the inclusion of the representatives of business, religion, labour and others and there was understanding between the President and Solomon, on the eve of that meeting that the Regional representatives and the private sector would be present, however they were ‘kicked out’ of the meeting as Solomon wanted only Rupert Roopnarine, Vanessa Kissoon, Aubrey Norton and Nigel Hughes to be present.
She stated that their playing for time obviously had a sinister agenda in terms of extending the unrest in Linden indefinitely but also too it exposed their duplicity as following the August 8 discussion, they went and held public meetings where they pointed out that “they are going to continue resisting regardless and that they begin to use terminology that is extremely inflammatory, which of course they have been doing all along and, in terms of at all their meetings we know they have not been informing the public in Linden about what was going on in the meetings with the President”.
She said, Norton was quoted as saying that Lindeners need to remain organised and they should be able to send each other text messages, get out there, ‘the demons are coming’. “He avowed that this was a way to make sure that they got what they wanted. He went on to say that they had to teach the Government a lesson.”
Kissoon, she said then called on people to share their phone numbers and text words and that when they receive the text words, the demons are coming, that is a mobilisation call to get on the streets.
Despite this, the Government continued to meet with them and again asked that normalcy be restored but, was told that until other matters are concluded which include the economic proposals, there would be no clearing of the streets.
In concluding, Teixeira spoke of misinformation, inciting and laying blame, noting that the media has contributed with postings on Facebook, on Benschop’s Radio on the internet, injecting strong racial language, targeting people, naming and listing them and putting their photographs on the net.