Another official facing election-related charges
Published:Monday | December 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
GEORETOWN, Guyana (AP):
A presidential adviser for Guyana's ruling party says he will be charged with assault following an election day altercation at a polling station.
Odinga Lumumba said last Saturday that prosecutors recommend that he be charged with assaulting a polling officer after he sought to observe the voting process.
Lumumba would be the second official charged following the November 28 election.
Presidential spokesman Kwame McKoy pleaded not guilty last Friday to assault.
He is accused of trying to run down an opposition supporter with a car and of hitting another one in the head with a gun during a fight about flyers on utility poles.
Both men are still working for the People's Progressive Party, led by President Donald Ramotar.
Police commissioner on leave in wake of rape allegation
Guyana's Commissioner of police, Henry Greene, is to proceed on leave in light of investigations into allegations of rape levelled against him.
President Donald Ramotar has acceded to the request for Greene to proceed on leave to facilitate an independent investigation into the allegation.
Speaking at his first one-on-one interview with editor-in-chief of the National Communications Network Michael Gordon at the Office of the President, Ramotar said Assistant Commissioner Leroy Brummel will be serving in the capacity of commissioner in the interim.
Ramotar also said that he has liaised with Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, requesting that his ministry conduct external assistance in the investigations in order to expedite them.
A 34-year-old woman has accused Greene of rape and alleged that several officers refused to take her complaint. The woman said Greene took her to a hotel and raped her in late November.
She made the accusation last Wednesday accompanied by her lawyer at a news conference arranged by a women's group.
Greene has declined to comment in detail, saying: "Let God be the judge."
The United States revoked Greene's visa in 2006 over alleged links to drug trafficking. He has denied the allegations.