Leaders of main political parties should resume sincere dialogue now
-Guyana Council of Churches
Stabroek News
May 2, 2002
The Guyana Council of Churches (GCC) is calling on the leaders of the two main political parties, the PPP/C and the PNC/R, to immediately resume sincere dialogue in a spirit of compromise to help address a number of critical issues which it says are threatening to tear the country apart.
The GCC is also urging the country's political and other leaders "to spare no sacrifice of narrow interests" in order to help promote a culture of respect for life and to deal with "all violations firmly, promptly and above all with full respect themselves for the rule of law."
Further, the release said, the Council wants the authorities to unequivocally, both publicly and privately, reject the notion of extra-judicial killings as a response to violent crime, to insist that minimum, necessary force be used to apprehend suspects without injury, even suspects accused of the most violent crimes, to conduct impartial speedy investigations into all cases of killings by the police and to allow justice to take its full course in any cases where officials are accused of acting outside the law.
The release said too that the Council was inviting all Guyanese, especially the members of denominations that comprise the GCC, to play their role in cooperating fully and unselfishly with the authorities in the non-violent apprehension and transparent judicial process for all persons suspected of involvement in violent crime in order to halt the cycle of violence in the society.
Noting that the GCC membership recognized the good work the Guyana Police Force has been doing, the Council said that it supported the continuous training of police officers.
In the release, the GCC also extended its deepest sympathies to the relatives of all those who have been killed or wounded in recent acts of violence in the country.
According to the GCC, while the authorities so far have been relatively unsuccessful in arresting and bringing members of criminal bands to trial, including the five dangerous criminals who staged the bloody Mashramani Day jail break in the city, the charges and countercharges being exchanged by the two main political parties in the current situation are doing little to offer any solution. In addition, the GCC noted, in that light the wholehearted support from the population is not being encouraged towards united efforts to bring persons accused of violent crime to justice.