Hoyte, at a news conference last week, called for Gajraj's resignation following the Mash Day jailbreak and claimed that he had failed to implement the major recommendations of a Commission of Inquiry into a previous jailbreak at the Georgetown Prison.

Twenty-one-year old Prison Officer, Troy Williams was killed by the gang which fled the Georgetown Prison on February 23. They also shot another officer, Roxanne Whinfield, 36, in the head and she is critical in the Georgetown Hospital.

Police are continuing the hunt for the killer gang - Dale Moore, Shawn Brown, Mark Fraser, Andrew Douglas and Troy Dick.

Rejecting Hoyte's accusations, the ministry in a statement said the public has become accustomed to the PNC/R's "ongoing campaign to harass and ridicule the hardworking and dedicated members of our law enforcement agencies - and this is just another attempt."

"The nation recalls the PNC/R's unmasked support for the breakdown in law and order through its violent and disruptive post-elections protests in 1997 and 2001. It would also be useful to recall that there was evidence of lawbreakers hiding from the Police Force in Congress Place, Sophia, Georgetown.

"Also, the public will recall that Mr. Hoyte was present at the funeral of notorious criminal Mr. Linden `Blackie' London", the ministry said.

The five escapees are linked to the criminal gang led by `Blackie' who was killed in a joint Police-Army operation when he was cornered in a guest house on the East Bank Demerara in February 1999.

The statement said the Home Affairs Ministry and the Police remain committed to the preservation of law and order in the country and to fighting crime "using all resources at our disposal."

It suggested that the PNC/R should "genuinely support this effort and desist from causing unnecessary distractions and confusion".

The ministry and the Prison Service last week also reiterated that 95 per cent of the recommendations from the probe after the August 1999 jail escape had been implemented. A few have to be legislated, they said.

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA) the Prison Service said that implementing the critical recommendations "would be opening them to criticism and the possibility of a lawsuit by the public."

It said the service also speculated about the human rights body taking it to task about having skilled marksmen from the Police Force and the Army manning the guard towers at the Georgetown jail to shoot anyone trespassing the No Go zone around the prison.

Recommendations implemented from the report of that commission include:
** barbed wire on the perimeter fence replaced with an X-shaped structure of multi-coil razor wire;
** iron spikes at the top of the perimeter fence serviced and repaired to ensure rolling motion;
** lights installed in guard tower;
** No Go zone established;
** floodlights on perimeter fence;
** camera system on perimeter fence;
** increased budgetary allocations to Georgetown Prison;
** Prison Service training programme reviewed and upgraded;