Opposition says Patterson is latest target of Gov’t use of Police to harass citizens

The Opposition, A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC), has condemned “the use of the Guyana Police Force to achieve PPP political objectives, while at the same time ensuring that PPP senior officials who are accused of serious crimes are not investigated or the police carries out the investigation in a way that allows for the PPP accused senior officials to go free and not face the law.”

In a statement, the coalition made known, the treatment meted out to former Minister and Member of Parliament David Patterson, using the Sexual Offenses Act, for allegedly urinating in the public, is tantamount to harassment. This is so, said the Opposition, when consideration is given to fact the Police Force has done nothing to investigate the egregious allegations made by Chinese businessman Su Zhirong, who fingered Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in a massive corruption scheme with Chinese businessmen to secure lucrative government contracts.

Further, the Opposition noted, former Minister Nigel Dharamlall was able to walk free from the allegation of rape of a minor, in part due to the failure of the police to do their job.

The Opposition statement follows:-

PPP MISUSING THE GUYANA POLICE FORCE AGAINST ITS OPPONENTS

The Opposition wishes to condemn the use of the Guyana Police Force to achieve PPP political objectives while at the same time ensuring that PPP senior officials who are accused of serious crimes are not investigated or the police carries out the investigation in a way that allows for the PPP accused senior officials to go free and not face the law.

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STATEMENT BY THE BAR COUNCIL ON COMMENTS MADE BY MOHAMED ALI, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

The political harassment of Member of Parliament Mr. David Patterson is one of the most recent manifestations of the PPP’s harassment of the Opposition. Mr. Patterson is being accused of violating the law. What is interesting is for this minor offence he is placed on $200,000 station bail which is clearly an act of political harassment.

In the case of the allegations of bribery and corruption leveled against Bharrat Jagdeo in the Vice News Report the PPP instructed the police not to investigate. Mr. Jagdeo’s alleged crime is far worse than the allegation leveled against Mr. Patterson. Yet the police are unable to investigate an alleged crime that has serious implications for the nation as a whole.

In the case of the alleged rape and sodomising of an indigenous child, the police was very complacent and clearly work assiduously to ensure that Mr. Nigel Dharamlall did not face the full force of the law. For the Opposition this is not a closed case. It is a case of money and other forms of power being used to intimidate ordinary citizens and to allow the members of the PPP elite class in Guyana to violate the law and go unpunished. It must be stated here that rape has no statute bar and therefore those who believe in justice will continue to pursue this case until there is justice.