Former AG thought coup warning a joke

THE EDITOR: Well, well, well? It seems that after a lapse of 15 years, there is now the suggestion that a commission of inquiry should be appointed to inquire into the circumstances leading up to the attempted coup of 1990 which the authorities were warned about by reliable information from an impeccable source, several weeks prior to the actual event and which could have been prevented, thereby saving the lives that were lost, the hundreds of millions of dollars in property loss and the trauma that accompanied the event.

You see, I know as a fact that the then Commissioner of Police was given information regarding a formidable cache of military weapons including hand grenades, rockets and launchers, rifles, pistols and automatic weapons of different types that were in the hands of the Jamaat and that they were not intended to be used in the sport of “Duck Hunting.” From information received, I understand that this information was immediately passed on to the then Attorney General Mr Selwyn Richardson who became highly amused and replied, “Don’t take on that old talk, that is a joke, that could never happen.”

Well as we all know, before Mr Richardson had regained his composure and stopped laughing, the attempted coup was well in progress, Mr Abu Bakr appeared on TTT to inform the viewing public that he had taken over the government, Mr Robinson and other members of Parliament were under arrest in the Red House and that there was no need for concern, since everything was under control and that the public should go about their business as usual. My first reaction to Mr Bakr’s appearances on the TV screen was that it might be an introduction to one of Freddie Kissoon’s newest plays, but seeing two of his lieutenants heavily armed at his side, I realised that the attempted coup was well in progress and that there was indeed cause for grave concern.

Fortunately for the country and its citizens, the regiment was able to take action immediately and following the advice of the then Prime Minister Mr ANR Robinson to “attack with full force,” the attempted coup was subdued in relatively short time with a minimum loss of life. So there you have it, no need to appoint any costly “Commission of Inquiry” into the event or the circumstances surrounding it before and after, you now have all the relevant facts and it is abundantly clear that, had Mr Richardson been seriously concerned rather than highly amused, the event would never have taken place. But then from the very inception, the government of this country has always been filled with a band of irresponsible jokers that do not have a clue about what they should be doing.

The fact that the Jamaat has been permitted to expand and grow over the past 15 years and to appropriate State lands freely as they wish and even sue the government for damages and get judgement in a court of law for millions of dollars in damages from the State, is merely the result of the injudicious decision of the President of the Senate in his capacity as Acting President, Mr Eamon Carter, in issuing a letter of amnesty to Mr Abu Bakr absolving him and the Jamaat from any form of punitive action that could be taken. Going back 15 years, it can be truly said that the Intelligence Division of the Ministry of National Security was totally inoperative and non-functional at that time and I am by no means convinced that it is any better now.

MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romaine