Plots and Schemes

July 14, 2017 Opinion , OPINION/NEWS , South America

By

Ricardo Swire

Guyana is legendary for internal security law enforcement mystery. One of the country’s biggest cover-ups was the murder of Vincent Teekah, a former Minister of Education, killed by a bullet fired from close range.

At the time of his assassination the ex-Minister was sight-seeing with a female American dentist visiting from Maryland. After the shooting Guyana’s Prime Minister (PM) of the day’s personal US dentist arrived at St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital with the ex-Minister’s car and cold body, pronounced dead on arrival.

A formal account of the incident stated two unidentified men attacked the ex-Minister and the female American dentist as they viewed Guyana’s tourist attractions. At the time of the shooting they were parked on the roadside of East Bank Demerara, south of Georgetown. After the female American dentist shouts for help they were assisted by an Indio-Guyanese man, who assisted by moving the ex-Minister of Education’s non-responsive body from the driver’s seat.

The Good Samaritan also accompanied the wounded, unconscious gunshot victim and the American female dentist who drove to the hospital. After the ex-Minister was officially pronounced dead, the US visitor tried to contact the PM by phone without success. She drove the car, with the dead body inside, to the PM’s residence and was accommodated overnight. Early the following morning the American dentist was shuttled to the airport and checked in on a departing flight to the US. She was the only witness to the shooting.

The US dentist’s hasty departure from Guyana removed her from answering any Guyana Police Force (GPF) questions. Investigators ruled out accidental death by his own gun, since the fatal bullet was not fired from the personal registered pistol still on his person. The shot that killed the ex-Minister entered his right hip and travelled horizontally across his body. On arrival at St Joseph Mercy Hospital the victim’s body was already cold, a condition inconsistent with the science associated with the body arriving fifteen minutes after the shooting as stated.

Multiple residents, in proximity to the crime scene, reported hearing two shots fired in quick succession at 11:30pm. The ex-Minister of Education’s car, parked in the area for an extended period, was seen driving off at high speed after shots echoed.

The GPF’s threat management of an April 2017 conspiracy to kill the country’s President, David A Granger, during one of his public community appearances initially declared a “hoax,” is now the subject of a formal Commission of Inquiry. One example of such public outings was on June 18, 2017, when the President visited the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) in Georgetown to break the Muslim community’s “Roza” or Fast observed during Ramadan.

The Commission of Inquiry, chaired by a retired Guyana Police Force Assistant Commissioner, is tasked with examination of “all actions taken by the Guyana Police Force and examine whether there was evidence of failure, neglect or omission to thoroughly or properly investigate the intention or plan to assassinate President Granger and determine whether such failure or omission was intentional.” Both the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Guyana Police Force’s Legal Advisor are assisting.

The potential assassin related on national television how he was recruited by one of Guyana’s gold mining aristocrats to shoot and kill the President. The whistle-blower said he was told by the plot’s mastermind “we have to assassinate him before he moves from where he is living, of course if he moves his security will enhance and you can’t get to him.” The President, his wife and two daughters live at D’Urban Backlands. The chain-link fence previously surrounding his office at the Ministry of the Presidency (MoP) was recently replaced by a twelve foot high concrete wall. In 2002 two persons were shot dead by security officers after they attempted to storm the Office of the President.

In the recent alleged assassination scheme the recruited shooter said he was told “you know we and the Commissioner is friends, the whole judiciary is friends, we will take care of you. All you have to do is don’t let who you know get it done to know who is we and we ain’t want to know who you get.” The potential assassin turned informant originally met with the gold mining businessman to negotiate a GY$6 million deal. During that discussion the assassination plot was introduced. The gold mining entrepreneur asked the whistle blower to make necessary arrangements and be paid GY$7 million or US$32,444. He also provided a rifle, kept at his home, to be used as the murder weapon.

The following day the informant reconsidered and visited the gold mining echelon’s home. He returned the rifle and declined the job. In April 2017 the GPF Crime Chief confirmed a “confrontation” between the potential assassin and a third party. The unidentified man said he was offered payment to falsely say he was present during the conversation between the gold mining businessman and the recruited assassin, the abnormality passed to GPF’s Legal Advisor for guidance. A GPF report noted prior to his appearance at the confrontation officers were unable to locate the potential assassin.