Rohee urges patience on Defence Board AK-47 pronouncement
Kaieteur News
February 27, 2007
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee is urging that Guyanese remain patient with regards to a pronouncement on the report on the missing AK-47 assault rifles that disappeared from the Guyana Defence Force Base Camp Ayanganna a year ago.
The report was presented to the Defence Board about a month ago and President Bharrat Jagdeo had told the media that it would have been studied in the in the weeks after the announcement.
However according to Minister Rohee, while the Defence Board has been studying the report, nothing new has been forthcoming.
“I haven't heard anything new emanating from the Office of the President or from the Head of the Presidential Secretariat. I think that if something new emerges then we could probably keep our fingers cross and be patient,” Rohee told Kaieteur News.
Minister Rohee, who is a member of the Defence Board, admitted that he has had a chance to look at the report but that he was not at liberty to disclose the contents.
He declined to say if the report implicated anyone in the GDF hierarchy.
“If there is anyone that is implicated or to be implicated, I think that the final report that would emanate from Office of the President will let us know that.”
This newspaper had reported that at least on senior official was linked to the recovery of at least three of the missing weapons after investigators found that his cellular phone was used to give their location.
It was also reported that the official had tried to pervert the course of justice during the investigation, prompting President Jagdeo to voice concerns about the way the army intelligence unit was being administered.
Chief-of-Staff Edward Collins had also confirmed that court martial was likely with regards to the investigations.
Minister Rohee said that he could not speak for the Chief of Staff, pointing out that if the head of the army had indeed stated that there will be court martial, he was probably aware of the weight of the evidence to that effect.
“I suppose that the Chief of Staff is quite aware of the implications of his statement and he is saying so knowing fully well about the weighty nature of that statement,” Minister Rohee said.
The Joint Services have so far recovered 13 of the missing weapons, in most cases from criminal elements after a confrontation.
It is not too clear if the report that was presented to the Defence Board pointed to the likely whereabouts of the remainder of the weapons.