President Irfaan Ali attended the funeral service of Haresh Singh, which was held today, September 23 at Persaud’s Funeral Home, New Amsterdam.
The President expressed his condolences to the relatives gathered to say their final goodbyes and called on all Guyanese to place their focus on healing and unifying the country. The President assured that the Government would remain committed to fostering national unity “through policies and programmes, through social efforts and the merging of cultures” and the creation of a single Guyanese identity.
“In memory of these young men, our focus has to be on healing, on bringing our country together, and on unifying our efforts to ensure we do not have a repeat of these incidents… we have to do these things, in addition to ensuring justice is served for these young men.”
Haresh Singh, 17, was killed at Number 3 Village, West Coast Berbice during protests that were started in response to the murders of Joel and Isaiah Henry just days before. President Ali also joined the families of the Henry boys to pay his respects at Sandy’s Funeral Home on September 13.
President Irfaan Ali attended the funeral service of Haresh Singh
President Ali also said he would ensure that those affected and injured during the unrest would receive the necessary assistance from the government. “In addition to visiting the families and attending the funerals of Isaiah, Joel and now Haresh, I have had the chance to talk with many of the persons who were injured and cannot fend for themselves because of those injuries. At some point also, we have to have the healing process there. I want all of these persons who were affected to know that we are going to connect with them, to find ways we can help as a Government.”
The government has requested assistance in the investigations of these murders from the British Government and the Regional Security Service (RSS).
In an interview with the Caribbean Times News, yesterday, President Ali assured that justice for the murdered teens will be served. The President gave an update on the process of acquiring aid from the British government and RSS saying, “I am happy to report to you that we are making great progress. From CARICOM itself, we are hoping that we can have a team very shortly; we are finalising the Terms of Reference, and we signed an MOU. On the British side, we have received a very positive response.”
