during and after the events of July 18

micevan1l6

August 2nd was identified as the day for the completion of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Independent Commission of Inquiry triggered by the July 18, killings in Linden during a protest action.Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, had indicated during his post-Cabinet press briefing that an announcement would have been made in the House during a sitting yesterday.Slain protestor: Ron SomersetThis never materialized as A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Joseph Harmon, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall and the Alliance For Change continued to seek consensus on the draft TORs.Nandlall had read in Parliament what he said were some of the areas in the terms to which Government and the Opposition had agreed regarding the July 18 shooting death of Shemroy Bouyea, Ron Somerset and Ivan Lewis.These included identifying what unit was employed at the scene and its composition; what training was given to the unit in preparation for crowd control; a determination whether the shooting was done by police on the ground, and if so, to determine who gave the order and whether the police had justification for the use of lethal force and inquiry into instructions for the operation.Nandlall added that it was also agreed that the Commission should inquire if Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, gave any general or specific instructions to police to maintain law and order in Linden before, during and after the events of July 18; inquire into actual cause of death; into the nature of violence and destruction and preparations following the shooting; inquire  and report on the role and involvement, if any, of political organizations in organizing and promoting the protest action, and make recommendations and implementations which will assist police in discharging responsibility for maintenance of law and order; and make  recommendations for compensation for personal injury, damage and loss to victims.But Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive Member, Moses Nagamootoo, said that Nandlall’s statement was misleading in saying that this was a joint position by the Government and Opposition.Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, David Granger, yesterday told this publication that as of late yesterday, there were still several drafts being looked at. He said that while there has been some level of consensus between APNU and the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic, they were awaiting the AFC’s position.“Our position has found favour to some extent with the PPP/C,” said Granger.He did say that he would “like to think that by this weekend,” the TORs should be completed.Slain protestor: Allan LewisGranger said that APNU will be satisfied with jurists making up the panel of the Commission of Inquiry, solicited from Caribbean countries as well as capable Guyanese Nationals.He stressed the two components of the inquiry that APNU is heavily focused on would be the Ministerial responsibility as well as the preparedness of the Guyana Police Force to address such instances that had occurred in Linden on the fateful day.This publication has been reliably informed that while APNU and the ruling PPP/C party share common ground on most of the TORs for the Inquiry it is the AFC in the person of Nigel Hughes who has been entrusted to deal with the matter on behalf of his party.