Guyanese political activist charged with treason

GEORGETOWN — March Benschop, one of the two Guyanese political activists on a police wanted list, has been charged with treason. The preliminary inquiry begins next Tuesday.

Confirming this development, Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald, said they were still on the hunt for former opposition parliamentarian, businessman Philip Bynoe, who is also wanted for treason.

When Benschop was arrested last week by the special anti-crime squad of the police force and placed on various non-indictable charges, he was granted bail in the sum of Guy$35,000 (G$185=US$1). He was not required to plead on the indictable charge of treason.

But the police took him back into custody, explaining that they were carrying out further investigations. On Monday, they placed Benschop before acting chief magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen on the charge of treason to which he was not required to plead.

A group of some five lawyers turned up in court to represent the controversial television talk-show host who has had repeated clashes with the police over his alleged involvement in political disturbances.

Benschop and Bynoe were being sought by the police on the treason charge since July 4 following their alleged organising roles in the illegal march on July 3 when protestors stormed the office of President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Two persons, a man and a woman, were shot to death and some eight others were injured during the disturbances which also extended into arson, looting and physical assaults in the city.

Some 17 others charged with various offences, including participating in an illegal march, have been placed before the court but all have been granted bail without any objection from the police.

Citizens delegation urging Jagdeo-Hoyte meeting

GEORGETOWN — Civil society’s growing anxiety for a resumption of the high-level dialogue between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte has resulted in the appointment of a three-member team to meet with the two leaders shortly.

This move followed a paid advertisement over the weekend appealing to Jagdeo and Hoyte to resume their dialogue — suspended by the Opposition leader over three months ago — to protest what he described as non-implementation of measures agreed upon.

The team members identified are Nigel Hughes, president of the Guyana Bar Association; Dr Peter DeGroot of the Private Sector Commission and Lincoln Lewis of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC).

An immediate response from a spokesman for the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was that while the civil society initiative “is to be welcomed, the composition of the team suggests a certain insensitivity to the need to have neutral and influential elements”.

He said he prefers not to comment further, although it is known that the PPP/C and Lewis, general secretary of the GTUC, have had sharp verbal clashes within recent times, with the labour official calling the president “a liar”.

Civil society organisations, whose representatives met at a city hotel on Monday, said that the delegation would take to Jagdeo and Hoyte their concerns about the current tension in the society, particularly as they relate to the spate of killings and armed robberies and violence.

The possibility of ‘shared governance’ will be raised during their meetings with the president and Opposition leader.

Anguilla’s ‘bad faith’ visa move attacked

BRIDGETOWN — The decision by the tiny Eastern Caribbean island of Anguilla (35 square miles and about 8,000 people) to impose a visa requirement on Jamaicans and Guyanese to travel there, has been sharply criticised by the Daily Nation newspaper of Barbados.

In its editorial yesterday, “Anguilla move not in good faith”, the newspaper said the decision runs counter to “the spirit of the Community” — a sentiment already expressed by Caricom secretary-general Edwin Carrington — and creates an “undesirable precedent”.

“Caricom nationals are already anxiously awaiting the promised freedom to live and work anywhere in the Community that is moving towards a single market and economy,” said the Nation.

“For some to now be confronted with a visa requirement can only breed more cynicism and disenchantment over the hassles of intra-regional travel.”

The newspaper said that Caricom has no alternative but to bring a speedy resolution to the issue and that Britain, of which Anguilla is one of its overseas dependent territories, needs to exercise its own influence in helping the administration in The Valley to respond positively to the concerns of the Community. Anguilla has associate membership in Caricom.