– GTUC condemns threat on life of former General SecretaryLincoln Lewis (centre) at the press conference with Acting General Secretary of the GTUC, Norris Witter (right) and Vice President Patrick Singh.The Guyana Trade Union Congress has expressed its concern for the safety of its former General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis, following what was described as an attempt on his life between Sunday night and early yesterday morning.But the outspoken veteran trade unionist says that he will not be silenced, even if it means risking his life.Lewis made the comment at a hastily arranged press conference in which he detailed what transpired at his home in Cummingslodge, East Coast Demerara.Lewis told members of the media that his home was visited by unsavoury characters, forcing him to flee for his safety.He claimed that he has not reported the matter to the police as he feels that nothing significant will come out of their investigations, since according to him, the police may be acting in consort with the perpetrators.According to a statement delivered by Acting General Secretary of the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC), Norris Witter, on Sunday night,Cheap Jerseys For Sale, Lewis’s home was visited by persons unknown to him, who were seeking uninvited access.“He was forced as a result to leave his home and seek safety elsewhere. He has not gone to the police to report this transgression on his property as in these perilous times he does not know whom he can trust,” Witter told the media yesterday.He declared that the GTUC is concerned but not afraid for the likely threat on the life and property of Lincoln Lewis.“We are concerned that those who seek to still the voices of dissent in our society are seeking to instill fear in this brother who has been fearless under Burnham,Allan Houston Jersey, Hoyte and Cheddi Jagan,” Witter added.Lewis, who is attached to the Caribbean Congress of Labour’s Head Office in Barbados, is on a short visit to Guyana.He explained that he had retired to bed in the bottom flat of his two-storey house when he was aroused by loud banging on his doors as well as a window.Upon investigating, he observed three unknown characters trying to gain entry to his house.Since lights were on around the property, Lewis said he observed that two of the men were wearing caps while the other wore a flop hat. They were all dressed in civilian clothes.After their initial attempt to gain entry into the house failed, the men left and Lewis proceeded to turn off the lights.Five minutes later the men returned and again tried to force their way into Lewis’s house. This time,Manchester United Jerseys, Lewis, realizing that there was no place he could hide if the men did manage to enter his house, decided to flee the premises.He said that he ran all the way to the back of the village, even as the men followed him in a white car they had parked on the road near his house.He was subsequently rescued by a minibus driver who took him to the Stabroek Car Park where he caught a taxi and moved to a safer location.No shots were fired and Lewis said that he could not tell if the men carried firearms.“I live alone. I live a life where I feel no need for security,Cheap Jerseys From China,” the former GTUC General Secretary said when asked about security at his premises.“I believe there are persons who are not comfortable with my stance on certain issues,” Lewis stated. These issues relate to what Lewis called the murdering of Guyanese by the law enforcement agencies and the high cost of living he attributed to the value added tax implemented by the government.These issues were outlined during a press conference at which Lewis spoke last Friday.He revealed that the office in which the press conference was held was broken into the said Friday night and a computer removed.“The phantom is the police and the police are phantoms. I am not going to go to them. What other course of action I will take is something that I will have to determine,” he said.Among the courses to be taken are informing local regional and international bodies such as the United Nations, Caricom, the various Churches and the International Labour Organization.Lewis said that he also plans to take the matter to the Human Rights Convention in Geneva, Switzerland next year.“God ain’t ready yet to carry me to another place. I have unfinished business,” Lewis said.He stopped short of accusing anyone but from his intonations, he was definitely referring to the present administration. According to the GTUC, the present administration has disgraced the memory of Dr. Cheddi Jagan. The trade union body stated that in a country with a history of racial encampments, “Lewis as a black man was not afraid to share a platform with the late Indian leader Dr. Cheddi Jagan whom many associate with apaan jhat politics”.“Brother Lincoln demonstrated that he was above racial politics and stood with those whom at the time he believed shared the same values as he did,Blake Swihart Jersey,” the GTUC said.They claimed that the present administration has successfully created a society cloaked in fear.“Fear of being accused of sedition, fear of being imprisoned for five years as the judicial process is violated to take away your freedom, fear of the right to association and freedom of expression, fear of state sponsored eavesdropping on your telephone calls…fear of state associated phantom murdering squads, fear of being accused of a crime, being placed on a wanted list and then brutally murdered without trial and most recently, fear of elements in the police and Joint Services,Nike NFL Jerseys China,” the GTUC statement said. The GTUC said that it is committed to defending the rights of Lincoln Lewis and all other Guyanese who dare to speak out on the transgressions in our society.“We condemn the threat against his life and property and we call on the people of Guyana, the media, the state and all law abiding citizens to protect his right to freedom of expression in defence of a society and people he has spent his life struggling for and whom he loves,” the GTUC said.Lewis for his part believes that should he go to the police, the matter will end up like many other uninvestigated matters currently in their hands. He revealed that he has received threats before.“They don’t want to hear what I have to say. They want me dead. Why would thieves follow me all the way to the back of Cummingslodge after I ran away?” he added.He described the men who came to his house in the wee hours of yesterday morning – two of them being tall while the other was slightly shorter.“They can do what they want; they cannot silence me. I was supposed to leave this morning (yesterday) but I am not leaving,” Lewis asserted.
