The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) yesterday called on the government to break its silence on the arrest and detention of Ronald Waddell who was arrested at his home on Friday allegedly on the accusation of treason.
A senior police officer yesterday confirmed that Waddell was being held and said the police are investigating an allegation of treason outside the Office of the President last Wednesday.
On Friday, the police had issued wanted bulletins for activist Phillip Bynoe and TV personality Mark Benschop. The two are also said to be wanted in connection with treason and other offences. Bynoe was the leader of protesters who stormed the Office of the President last Wednesday, while Benschop was seen among the protesters. The police officer said that the two had not been held as yet.
A release from ACDA said that it noted the wanted bulletins for the two men on Friday night, adding that if the government did not quickly provide credible evidence to substantiate those accusations of treason it would be open to charges from the African community that this was another act of state terrorism being perpetrated against the African Guyanese community with the intention to intimidate. It said that it was an attempt to “silence our cries against injustices and force our people into accepting new forms of slavery."
The association opined that the charges of treason stemmed from the incident at the Office of the President in which “twenty unarmed” African Guyanese protesters, entered into the compound of the Office of the President. "ACDA unequivocally condemns all acts of violence," the release said.
But the association rejected the arguments made by the ruling PPP/C that those who entered the compound of the Office of the President went there to kill the President and overthrow the Government of Guyana.
"We view this desperate act by unarmed Africans as a further attempt to highlight their sense of alienation from development opportunities as well as frustration with an administration process that deliberately stultifies their development," the ACDA release further said. It was said that it was clear to ACDA that the ruling party and the government was taking full advantage of the support it has received from the recently concluded CARICOM’s Head of Government Conference, to unleash unprecedented levels of repression on the African Guyanese community.
"ACDA wishes to advise the rulers that this apparent attractive option of political repression would only worsen the already dangerous situation in the country and reinforce the African Guyanese will to continue their struggle for socio-economic liberation," the release concluded.