GEORGETOWN, Guyana – President David Granger has reiterated his intention to ensure a full investigation into the deaths of hundreds of Guyanese, including the former Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh, during the period of “Troubles”.
In his address to the members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the Annual Officers’ Conference, Granger said his administration will ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
‘Troubles” is the name given to the decade, roughly between 2000 and 2010, that witnessed the most intense and sustained wave of criminal violence since independence.
“Society has been scarred by violence, which left a lingering legacy of distrust with the potential of fresh disorder. Monuments at Bartica, Buxton and Eve Leary have been erected to the victims of violence during the ‘Troubles’ between 2002 and 2009. We still have an obligation to investigate those troubles and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice,” he said.
According to the President, during the period of “Troubles” there were 1,431 murders during that decade.
Speaking at the opening of the ‘Seminar on Tackling Domestic Abuse in Guyana’ earlier this week, Granger said that the previous administration never bothered to account to the nation for the hundreds of lives lost through criminal violence.
“It refused even to conduct inquests into the assassinations of its own Minister of Agriculture; of the Deputy Head of the Customs [Anti]-Narcotics Unit in Buxton and of the attempted assassination of the Director of Public Prosecution in Kitty….. the agony, anger and alienation caused by violence against citizens, especially the innocent and the young still simmer. The crimes have not been explained. The memories have not been erased,” the President said.
While serving as Opposition Leader, President Granger had called for a Commission of Inquiry into those criminal activities and in 2013, he took a motion before the National Assembly and called on the then People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government to appoint the Commission to probe criminal violence from 2004 to 2010.
However, the motion put forward by Granger at the time was deferred on a number of occasions. – CMC
