PPP says Hoyte backs irresponsibility charge
LEADER of the main opposition People's National Congress (PNC), Mr Desmond Hoyte yesterday accused the People's Progressive Party (PPP) of an "unwarranted attack" on his party over an alleged statement from a bandit suspect. But the PPP, the main partner in the governing PPP/Civic (PPP/Civic) alliance, accused Hoyte of making "wild charges" against government ministers and claimed his credibility "has taken an irreversible plunge". The row between the two parties is over a report by the Guyana correspondent of the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) claiming that bandit suspect Andrew Douglas had linked government ministers, police and others to violent armed robberies of the slain notorious bandit Linden `Blackie' London. The Guyana Government has demanded an apology from CANA and wants it to retract the story. The government Tuesday described the report as "baseless, wicked and malicious." It added that CANA acted irresponsibly by "parroting these blatant lies which have been peddled by propagandists linked to the opposition People's National Congress (PNC)." Information Minister, Mr Moses Nagamootoo, in a letter to Mr Trevor Yearwood, Editor of the CANA Wire Service, strongly denounced the story. "I believe that the CANA publication is defamatory of the entire government of Guyana and has tarnished the image of all ministers, individually and severally," he said. Nagamootoo pointed out that the "news item did not say by what method 'a man facing robbery charges' in Guyana made the allegation 'that two government ministers, a public servant, two cops, and a television station owner were accomplices' who helped the deceased bandit-killer, Linden London to 'mastermind heists' which according to your story netted more than $100M." The minister stated that if the allegation of criminal conduct was "strong", CANA should have ensured that its source was not only impeccable, but that the accused be given a chance to respond. He said he was aware that certain anti-government propagandists who were identified as being in contact with the late criminal have claimed that a tape recording purportedly emanating from a gang member has named state officials as accomplices. However, no one owned up to the `voice' on the tape recording, he said. It came as a shock to the government that CANA allowed itself to become ensnared in a political smear campaign by repeating allegations from a questionable source, he said. Hoyte at a press briefing yesterday said the attack on his party was "wholly unwarranted and inexplicable...objectionable, reprehensible and utterly unacceptable." He claimed that the CANA report was based on a tape recording which "contained allegations" against government ministers and others linking them to robberies committed by London, Douglas and others. "The CANA report did not say that these allegations were true: it merely reported, faithfully and accurately, the contents of the tape", Hoyte told reporters. Hoyte repeated allegations against government ministers and others, including the police. In a statement yesterday, the PPP said Hoyte has vindicated the charge by the government that CANA "acted irresponsibly in linking state officials with the deceased criminal `Blackie'." "In his own words, Hoyte admitted that `the CANA report did not say that these allegations were true", the PPP argued. That the allegations lack credibility and were untruthful "was the gist of the government's contention which deserves support", the PPP said, backing the call for an apology from the news agency. The PPP claimed Hoyte is "haunted by the ghost of his own indiscreet action and no amount of calumnies against PPP and State leaders could ever cleanse him of his tainted image after his unpardonable rendezvous with the dead bandit-killer, Linden London." Hoyte defended attending London's funeral last month saying he "has no apologies to make". He maintained he was not there "to defend any criminal enterprise in which London might have been involved" but was "there to register a protest against the manner of his killing". London was shot dead in a joint Army-Police operation after an almost 12-hour shootout at an East Bank Demerara hotel. Hoyte wants a public inquiry into the allegations on the tape recording he said Douglas made.
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