Police, Army must give assurances for E-Day safety and security – Jagdeo

With just three days remaining before the 2020 elections, the opposition People’s Progressive Party is calling on the Guyana Police Force to give public assurances of their readiness to maintain law and order and protect polling places across the country.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said he expects the Police leadership to give these assurances to election observers and the electoral body but he also wants these assurances himself.

To this end, he intends to write Police Commissioner Leslie James directly on the issue.

“I need to get the assurances directly from him [the Police Commissioner],” Jagdeo said Thursday at his weekly press conference on Church Street, Georgetown.

The Opposition Leader said he has also asked the international observer groups present here to meet with the Police hierarchy to discuss its readiness to ensure safety and security.

Jagdeo reminded of the lead role he played in the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Presidential elections in Sri Lanka in January 2015.

“They need assurances from the leadership of the Army and Police, the reason I can speak authoritatively on this is because I headed an observer group and I did the same thing in Sri Lanka to get these assurances,” he added.

Jagdeo said the Police must say what training has been done, whether they will use Rural Constables or Police only and the state of Police vehicles to respond to incidents.

“There has to be adequate Police for each polling place… we don’t want any compromise to safety and security,” the Opposition Leader said.

He said the Police must be made to act impartially and deal with matters that arise professionally.