Minister Trotman’s father ‘handpicked’ to probe Lindo Creek killings

…as Lusignan, Bartica massacres placed on back burner

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Lindo Creek Massacre of 2008 which claimed the lives of eight miners was officially sworn in on Wednesday, with a retired judge who is the father of a sitting Minister of Government being the lone commissioner handpicked for the job.
Retired Justice Donald Trotman, 80, took the oath of office before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the presence of Minister of State, Joseph Harmon at the Ministry of the Presidency. Trotman is the father of the coalition’s Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, who is also the Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC).
Nevertheless, the retired Judge said he was pleased to have been chosen to head the CoI by President David Granger and promised to adhere to strict principles of impartiality and fairness.

“There must be integrity, independence, and impartiality, and that must be sent and felt by the people concerned, the families concerned and the nation as a whole and those also who have entrusted this Commission with the responsibility of conducting the inquiry,” he added.
Trotman said the main objective of the CoI is to find the truth and to bring healing and closure to the nation as a whole. He said he hoped that the Lindo Creek and other inquiries would help bring about reconciliation among Guyanese. “We are looking to the past in order to make peace for the present.”
Justice Trotman, who has decades of experience serving in the legal profession, said that the process could not be seen as a one-man show, but rather the Commission would include all persons who know and have information and come forward to say what happened in the national interest and in the interest of Government.
Meanwhile, Minister Harmon said the CoI was a fulfilment of a promise made by President Granger to have this matter properly investigated so as to bring justice to the families.
He said the Commission has been given an initial three-month period until the end of April, 2018 in which to operate. However, the Minister could not state how much would be spent on the CoI.
“The Commission of Inquiry will make recommendations on actions to be taken on all persons and/or organisations that are deemed responsible for the death of those persons,” Harmon said.
When asked why the Government has only moved to start with the Lindo Creek Massacre and not those that took place in Lusignan and Bartica which had a much wider impact, the Minister attempted to downplay the issue.
To defend the Government’s position, Harmon said that the Massacre was still fresh in people’s minds.
“The information is much more recent, even though it’s been a long time, and the players who are likely to give evidence, most of those persons are here. In fact, only recently, I saw a letter from the mother of one of the persons who were killed in that time asking for something to be done,” he recalled.
The CoI will have the benefit of researchers, Harmon said. While the Commission will have its own staff, staff working for Government is also engaged in researching other massacres.
“So, this is about one and at the appropriate time, we may do the others based on what information is available and the availability of resources. This is the first of a series of inquiries that will be done.”
Questioned as to whether senior Police officials who have been implicated in this matter could be sent on leave, pending the inquiry, Harmon said that was a matter for the Commission to decide.
“I urge all persons who may have any information, to cooperate with the Commission by submitting statements and memoranda and be prepared to give evidence before it,” he urged Guyanese.
During a separate event, President Granger also sought to defend the reason behind launching a CoI into the Lindo Creek Massacre, stating that there have been over eight massacres.
“But [I] feel this particular one hurt families directly. These are eight persons, people that were not involved or not even being suspected of being involved in any form of terrorism or wrongdoing.”
Describing the incident as a “massacre of the innocence”, the Head of State said that his Government believed the way the investigation was handled indicated that there was a high level of collusion.
He also rejected suggestions to go several years before 2008 when other major criminal activities had plagued the country. “We are not going backwards, we are going forward,” he asserted.
Also, the Government had refused to begin the inquiry at the start of what has been called the PNC’s ‘mo fyah, slow fyah’ killings.
Some time between June 12 to 24, 2008, miners Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres were shot and killed, and their bodies burnt at the Upper Berbice River mining camp which was being operated by Leonard Arokium.