by Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Corespondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Speaker of Guyana's National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran on Thursday disallowed a Motion for discussion of the alleged terror plot targeting the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport.
The Motion was brought by Alliance For Change (AFC) MP, Raphael Trotman, who told reporters that he might consider other avenues and called on the Government to ensure that the Guyanese accused in the plot are given a fair trial.
“I believe that our Embassy in the US should ensure that we have some kind of observer status, not to intervene, but to observer the proceedings and to ensure that the persons incarcerated are not tortured...and that no international laws and conventions and even national laws of America are not violated if the word goes out that these people are abandoned,” Trotman stated.
Trotman moved the Motion that Parliament be adjourned as a matter of urgent public importance since views, if left unchecked, can develop the indelible impression that the small nation of Guyana is a bedrock for extremism and religious and ethnic fanaticism.
Trotman told the National Assembly that since one of three Guyana-born men accused in the plot was a former Member of Parliament, the National Assembly should play its part in correcting any misconceptions.
“We in the Alliance For Change are firmly of the view that as an Assembly we have to play our part in correcting any misconceptions that may have already arisen, and are likely to arise, with respect to our work as the people’s representatives,” Trotman stated.
In disallowing the Motion, Ramkarran said that it did not qualify as a matter of urgent public importance, since the Motion did not cite any fault on the governing administration.
“I believe in my mind and in the minds of most Guyanese that it should have been discussed by this Parliament particularly since one of the accused is a former Parliamentarian and there is a view out there particularly among non-Guyanese that this is a terrorist state or a state that supports terrorism,” Trotman stated.
The US alleges that former JFK cargo worker, Russell DeFreitas, a US citizen and native of Guyana, along with Abdul Kadir, Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, and another Guyanese, Abdel Nur, planned and conspired to plant explosives to blow up jet fuel supply tanks and a pipeline that supplies JFK, La Guardia and Newark Liberty Airports.
DeFreitas has already appeared in a United States Federal Court, while Nur, Kadir and Ibrahim, all currently detained in Trinidad & Tobago, face extradition to the US.
Trotman said Guyana faces an international credibility crisis.
“We have gained the ignominious reputation as being a place where there were rigged elections, the Jonestown tragedy, death squads, narco- trafficking and now, terrorism,” Trotman told the National Assembly.
He said that Guyana should see the US not as the source of its problems, but the provider of our wants and therefore to harm it would be "non-sensensical and suicidal." |
