Ministry of Health fire…By Gary EleazarThe four names that have been identified in the media and the persons charged for the fire at the Health Ministry are indeed the arsonists, according to Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo.“We have found the people who started the fire…we have found them because they have confessed through caution statements…they painted the picture.”Tedenna BagotAccording to Jagdeo the men who have confessed are known,Chicago Cubs Jerseys, given that their names and photographs have been made available to the public. Further, they have identified where they bought the gasoline, the bottles and the channa and this has been verified by the persons that made the sales.On Monday last Clayton Westford, 19, of Lot 7 West La Penitence; and Tedenna Bagot, 21, of 32 Second Street, Alexander Village where charged for the arson.On the run are 31-year-old Kurt Thierens, called ‘Bage’, or ‘Glasses’, of Lot 102 Middle Walk, Buxton, and Colin Jones, 20, called ‘Bunny’, of Lot Three West La Penitence. They escaped from the Providence lockups on Monday last.Jagdeo said yesterday, during his press briefing, that the authorities knew the house in Meadow Brook where the incendiary device, namely the Molotov cocktails also called channa bombs, were manufactured.The president also reported that the persons who made the bombs are known.He says that two of the men confessed to being look outs only but said that they were at the scene.“They went into the building…they went through the door …they started the fire in the building.”The President said, too, that they knew of the persons who recruited the arsonists and “how the recruitment took place. As it relates to the utterances of discrimination by the Former Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen the President called it a pre-emptive strike.He said that Keith Ferrier, called General, who was charged yesterday in relation to the fire is one of the “so called recruiters,” who according to the Former Magistrate is a relative of hers. The President reported that he drove her vehicle to “the Meadow Brook house where the bombs were made.”He said, too, that while he was not accusing anyone of anything but, “when you consider that the day before when three persons were arrested outside of the Police Compound that the former Chief Magistrate was one of those who was there also then a picture of what took place starts emerging.”He said that that was not the end, given that the connections also extended overseas. Details will emerge as the investigation continues.Smokescreen The President also pointed out what he called a smokescreen to deviate from the issue at hand in that a Ministry was burnt to the ground and many services that were utilised by the populace would be affected that couples with the fact that millions of dollars went up in smoke as well as very important documents.He said that based on the reports emanating from some sections of the media suggests that catching the perpetrators “condemning it as a reprehensible act, speaking to the loss of service to thousands of Guyanese. All of these things have gone into the background.”Kurt ThierensAccording to the President there is a clever new campaign emerging. It is supported by some sections of the media to focus attention away from the fire onto another issue, “the so called Human Rights issue.”He did point out also that the “one person who may very well have suffered excesses…is yet to be investigated and confirmed.”Visibly battered, shaking uncontrollably and unable to walk, Troy Small called ‘Cats’ was finally released from the Alberttown Police Station and was immediately rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for medical attention last week Wednesday.Small, an alleged victim of torture at the hands of men believed to be members of the Guyana Defence Force, was released on $10,000 bail around 17:45 hours, after spending two days and nights at the Alberttown Police Station where he was dumped on the previous Monday night. Police say they are still treating Small as a suspect in the arsonist act that flattened two buildings housing the Ministry of Health on Brickdam.However, they have not revealed if there is anything incriminating against Small, who works as a labourer, building tombs in Le Repentir Cemetery.The President said that the issue was being blown to an extent where it masks the act of the fire and the persons who may very well be behind the act.He posited that it has all been a smokescreen for people not to see the real issue.
