Statement By Honourable Samuel A. Hinds, Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, we are meeting today for the first time after the Recess. The Government wants to take the opportunity to bring before this House a course of events which occurred during the recess, on which members of the Government have already spoken but, given the gravity of the events, the Government considers it necessary to lay it before the House.
I speak of the alarming events in our country that led to disruption of the peace, injury to people and called into question the methods of the opposition forces in our country, namely the Alliance for Change and the APNU as it appears to the Government that they plotted, and actively led disturbances that can only be viewed as concerted attempts to destabilize our Country with callous disregard for the welfare and security of our People.
The Government was astonished and horrified by the statements of the Chairman of the AFC who on Monday, October 8, presumptuously issued an ultimatum to the Executive President and Commander- in-Cief, His Excellency Donald Ramotar to dismiss a Cabinet Minister within a given time frame - 48 hours.
The Chairman on October 8 stated that if Minister Rohee was not removed from office within 48 hours, the AFC would call for mass protests that they would lead themselves and on Wednesday, October 10th, he extended a call to civil society to "take their own action". I quote, {(At the expiration of that time it is our hope that Civil Society will take their own action," unquote. He clearly indicated too that if his demands were not met the AFC would engage in "a range of measures" that would make it difficult for the work of the incumbent Minister of Home Affairs to be done.
As various members of the Government have stated, we were astounded by such demands by the Chairman of the AFC and the support received by various members of the APNU and we take the opportunity to restate in this House that the events created the environment which led to the horrendous events of October 11, the day after the expiry of the ultimatum.
The events of October 11 were characterized by the setting of fires, blocking off of the East Bank Demerara highway, attacking of Police Officers, preventing the Fire service from operating, assaulting and robbing of innocent Citizens, destroying of public and private property and serious disruption of the lives of Citizens. Airline flights into and out of Guyana were also temporarily suspended during this period thereby temporarily cutting Guyana off from the rest of the world. The Government views these events to be directly attributable to instigations, urgings and actions of the Alliance for Change and the APNU. We hold the AFC in particular responsible and accountable for the disturbances. This cannot be viewed as anything but a threat to national security and the peace and public order in our country.
We note that the Chairman of the AFC followed his ultimatum with a statement that, "lrn not calling for peace ... " an unfortunate choice of words, {(I want equal rights and justice" which we all want, equal rights and justice for all, however his follow up statement that {(I don't care how we get it but we must get it" has led us in government to form the opinion that the Chairman certainly did not care whether his Party adopted responsible or destructive methods to achieve their objectives. And we are of the view that his Party chose the less noble method of instigating, urging, causing and leading the unrest, at the expense of all the people who were caught up in the ensuing mayhem.
We condemn the attempts by the opposition to destabilize our country as a method of getting into power. We condemn their selfish, callous disregard for the safety and welfare of our people and their
readiness to sacrifice the peace and public order in our country in their attempt to remove the PPP/C from office.
Mister Speaker, Honourable Members the PPP/C Government expects and accepts vigorous, robust competition for Office as we each present our different policies, programmes and arrangements for the business of our people and country - but we, the PPP/C expect that the Opposition would be thoughtful, reflective and responsible in their methods, in their quest, as they pursue Office.
