Jagdeo says lands inquiry can set back race relations

Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo has labelled the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into African ancestral lands and other land matters as a political gimmick that is threatening to set back race relations for many years to come.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Jagdeo charged that the CoI “will not solve a single issue people face on the ground” and urged members of the public not to participate.

Jagdeo stressed that the “racially inflammatory” way in which issues are being presented at the CoI will ensure that Guyana will never have social cohesion since it is putting people of Amerindian and African descent at conflict with each other when there was none before.

A West La Penitence man was killed early yesterday morning after he was struck by a Route 32 bus while riding his motorcycle along the Goed Fortuin Public Road, at West Bank Demerara.

Dead is Joseph Samuel James, called “Joe” and “Kartel,” of Lot 54 Walter Terrace, West La Penitence, Georgetown, who was a labourer at Noble House Seafoods.

A father of three is now dead while another person is critically injured after a car collided with a motorcycle along the Better Hope Public Road, East Coast Demerara on Sunday evening.

Dead is Cleon Perreira, a driver attached to the Guyana Power & Light Inc and a father of three of Lot 119 Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, who was on the motorcycle. He died on the spot.