Calls to be cautious in view of rumours of a coup to be executed today, Emancipation Day, may not have fallen on deaf ears, Head of the President Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon has said.
At his post-Cabinet briefing at the Office of the President yesterday, Dr. Luncheon said that based on security briefings, the rumours of a coup emanated "not so many months ago from a certain gentleman who is now difficult to locate."
He said he understood that the vision of the coup was a very prominent feature of "this gentleman's" programme for progress in Guyana. "It was our expectation that along with his disappearance, the rumour of a coup and the rumours would have disappeared," he added.
While rumours were rumours, he said, there was a view out there that the government should not disregard even the most unlikely of things. He noted there were calls on the army, the police and government to be suitably informed and to put contingencies in place, and he believes "that those calls have not fallen on deaf ears."
In view of the rumours, Joint Services Chairman, Brigadier Michael Atherly in a release on Tuesday said that counter-crime operations will be intensified over the holiday period and Operation Tourniquet will continue. He also appealed to citizens to exercise tolerance as these operations were likely to cause delays and some amount of inconvenience.
Brigadier Atherly said that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was fully prepared to support the other Disciplined Services in the maintenance of law and order.
The response by the Joint Services to the rumours, Dr Luncheon said, noted the difference between mobilising for socially accepted purposes as in the case of people participating in national events such as the Emancipation Day activities and mobilising for devious purposes with criminal intent. One should not translate the mobilisation for Emancipation Day activities as mobilisation for a coup, he pointed out.