UPDATE-WPA executive member says the State is “scratching at straws.”

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The executive chairman of the opposition Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Tacuma Ogunseye, Monday, said he felt vindicated that the State is “scratching at straws” after he was released on GUY$100,000 ()One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) bail on a charge of attempting to excite racial hostility.

Ogunseye, 71, who had surrendered to police last Friday, appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty. He will re-appear in court on Thursday.

“I feel vindicated that the State has no case against me. I think they are scratching at straws,” he told reporters following his brief court appearance.

The prosecution alleges that the WPA executive member had on March 9 this year, at a public place, namely the Railway Embankment, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, made statements that were aimed at attempting to excite hostility or ill will against a section of the public on the ground of their race in contravention of Racial Hostility Act.

Ogunseye had, during the public meeting, made several claims about the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) using the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in the past to “execute” persons of African descent. He further stated that treating people in this ethnic group is unjust and must be acted upon as early as possible.

“The first objective is to get the African team in a state of battle readiness… the Afro-Guyanese police and soldiers… would stand with Afro-Guyanese in resisting mainly Indo-Guyanese supporting the PPP/C,” he had said.

Ogunseye told reporters Monday, “I have been in public life for over half of a century and speaking at numerous public meetings throughout the years, and I think I understand the parameters of public discourse, and I try myself to stick within those parameters.

So, I don’t believe they have anything of substance, but obviously, the court will have to decide,” said Ogunseye, who spoke to reporters since his arrest last Friday.

Ogunseye said he was not ill-treated while detained at the Brickdam Police Station over the weekend and that he had invoked his constitutional right to remain silent during questioning by the police, insisting that the struggle is not personal and that he will defend his position to the end.

“It is not personal. Whatever sacrifice you have to make for your people as a political activist or a political leader, you have to make it,” he added.

The prosecution had earlier objected to bail, but Ogunseye’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, said, “we, of course, applied for bail and demonstrated to the court that there were offenses such as attempted murder, rape, assault causing grievous bodily harm, all of which carry life imprisonment, and which people are entitled to bail at the Magistrate’s Court.

“The magistrate then admitted Mr. Ogunseye to bail in the sum of GUY$100,000,” he added.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, among several opposition members and supporters outside the court, told reporters that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had developed a trend of arresting politicians in the opposition before conducting any proper investigation. He said it is clear the GPF is following political instructions.

“It is a pattern. You accuse somebody of something. You issue a wanted bulletin. I assume you issue a wanted bulletin after you have investigated. There is enough evidence to bring some criminal charges against the person. Still, in all of these cases, we have seen so far, they are arresting people, abusing the 72 hours of incarceration, keeping them in there for 72 hours, and then when they are out, you are still investigating.”

He said the central opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) has “a good bit of members who they have charged for all kinds of things, and until now, a case cannot be called.

“Where are Mr (Clifton) Hicken (acting Police Commissioner) and the Police Force? They are taking political instructions, and because they are taking political instructions, there is a selective use of the law.

“Now, in a democratic society, you cannot have the selective use of the law, and so, it should be clear to all that this is not about maintaining law and order. This is a political witch hunt aimed at intimidating Guyanese of all strata of life once they oppose the Government,” Norton told reporters.

He said that while he disagreed with Ogunseye’s choice of words at the political meeting, he supported his message that Guyanese are being discriminated against daily. It is the Government leading that discrimination.

WPA executive member Dr. David Hinds told a news conference last Thursday that the PPP/C general secretary, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall were influencing police action against Ogunseye.