Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has poured cold water on an announcement made by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that the government will be launching a Commission of Inquiry into the murders of hundreds of persons during the crime spree in the early 2000s.

At a press conference today, the Opposition Leader said such an investigation by the PPP would be a joke. He said Guyanese will not accept the PPP overseeing any Commission of Inquiry on the killings since it was at the centre of what took place during the period.

“This has to be a joke of unprecedented proportion and the person it is coming from knows fully well that nobody will accept an investigation when he is part of the setting up of it, and creating the terms of reference and why is it if you are creating TOR, the Opposition in the Parliament of Guyana has 49%, why is it the Opposition isn’t involve and have a say?” Mr. Norton questioned.

The Opposition Leader said during the crime-wave, which hit the country from around the year 2000, high-ranking officials of the PPP government were implicated, and he believes that any Commission of Inquiry set up by the PPP will seek to clear the names of PPP officials, and implicate other persons who had nothing to do with the period.

“Any sensible Guyanese wouldn’t want Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP close to any investigation into those matters which they were involved in. Look at the Mahdia fore for example, rather than having an independent investigation, you had people who were in the employs of the government. Which investigation of consequence, into the burning of school with children inside, the Minister responsible will not be called,” Norton stated.

Mr. Norton said any investigation must be done by independent foreigners who cannot be pressured.

Back in 2017, former President David Granger had announced plans to launch a similar COI, but he stated that his plans were hampered because most of the witnesses had died, and he expressed the view that those were still around, might not want to take the stand.

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