Umbrella union urges probe panel to step down
Stabroek News
May 18, 2004

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The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has rejected outright the Presi-dential Commission, and is calling on the three Guyanese named on the panel "to recuse themselves so as to ensure their reputation and integrity are not compromised."

A GTUC press statement yesterday urged the government to rescind its decision to set up the Presidential Commis-sion of Inquiry immediately, in the national interest.

It said government should then engage opposition parliamentary parties and civil society so as to establish acceptable terms of reference and composition of the panel.

"We posit the view that this imposition cannot and will not be regarded as an answer to the impasse over the death squad allegations. Further, it is unfathomable to us that the government can so brazenly expect that any right-thinking person will accept the Commission of Inquiry as impartial and independent," the GTUC asserted.

It also contended that the "unilaterally imposed inquiry is a contemptuous slap in the face of the Guyanese people and the international community and strikes at the very core of good and accountable governance."