Shutdown organisers hold meeting
Wish to remain apolitical, anonymous
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
October 14, 2002
The organisers of the two-day nationwide shutdown to protest the crime situation met on Friday to decide on their next course of action.
Spokesman and businessman Paul Fraser said the organisers have no political ambitions and want to remain behind the scenes to ensure a return to normalcy,
The three groups which were behind the shutdown on October 9 and 10 - the concerned citizens which initially made the public call for the shutdown by placing advertisements in the media, the Association of Regional Chambers of Commerce, which put forward the idea to hold a day of rest as a means of protest, and Unite Guyana - a non-partisan, non-political group, met Friday evening to decide on the way forward.
The shutdown on Wednesday received solid support from businesses, individuals and organisations in Georgetown and parts of Berbice and a mixed response in other parts of the country. There was a further call for a shutdown on the following day, on Thursday, which was supported in large measure mainly in the city.
Fraser told Stabroek News that representatives of the three groups agreed that they had no political ambitions and were non-partisan in outlook. He said they only want the country’s elected leaders to do their jobs for which they were voted into office and to govern the country within its laws and regulations to benefit all Guyanese.
As to the identity of members of the group, Fraser said that was not important. He said all citizens needed to do was to look into a mirror and they would see “who we are.” The reason for anonymity, he said, was that the members, who were prominent individuals in their own fields but mainly businessmen, do not want to be labelled as persons looking for recognition of any kind including political.
Fraser said the responses to the shutdown on Wednesday and on Thursday crossed the political and racial divide and the group wants it to be left that way without political influences hampering the group from achieving its objectives in the short and medium term.
He said businessmen and professionals behind the shutdown are also fearful of reprisals by the authorities who may feel threatened by the support galvanised by the group.
Some of the members of the individual groups, Fraser said had wanted an organisational structure but it was agreed that because there were so many groups and committees already in existence, the group would be only be there “in the short, and hopefully, not in the medium term.”
This body would coordinate activities among concerned citizens, if there is need, in the short term to ensure that action is taken to curb the crime situation, which he noted was wreaking havoc with the country’s economy at every level.
In assessing the situation over the last two days, Fraser said the members at Friday night’s meeting felt there had been some movement in dealing with the crime situation based on the general acceptance by the government and opposition parties of the Social Partners’ crime initiative.