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Toward the end of last year, special pains were taken to mobilise people to show their appreciation for the adjustments the government made to their salaries. The cameras were strategically placed in some police stations, in some hospitals and in some places that cameras never visited.
President Irfaan Ali then told the nation in early December 2022 that very soon he would be looking at the salaries for teachers. The annoying thing about this situation is that if one were to question the president, today, about the increases for the teachers one would hear exactly what he said in December.
United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah Ann Lynch, addressed a forum for women and girls in early March. She too said that Guyana needed to pay its teachers if it intends to keep the more proficient.
Perhaps, it is a power thing. When one holds the levers of power, once can sit and watch how people twitch and jump when any impulse is applied.
This is seen in the Guyana Police Force. At the slightest, signal the government is able to get policemen on the roads, threatening to shoot at people. It is as if a homeowner is releasing his mad dogs.
The good news is that there are policemen who would engage rather than attack. However, this approach saw one man being transferred immediately. He subsequently died.
The 2022 report on Human Rights in Guyana stated that there were several reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
The report stated that in May police shot and killed Deanraj Singh. Police officials alleged that Singh was killed during an exchange of gunfire with police. As of October 31, police were investigating the case.
It continued that in June police shot and killed Quindon Bacchus. According to police officials, Bacchus was the subject of an undercover investigation regarding the purchase of black-market firearms.
In July authorities arrested police officer Kristoff DeNobrega and charged him with the murder of Bacchus. As of October 31, 2022 no date had been set for his trial.
As of October, too, the inquest ordered by the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding the May 2021 killing of Peter Headley had not been held, according to the report.
This is the reality in Guyana as it relates to power and the government system. This is the equality that the government talks so much about. This is the power that is toying with the teachers and the public servants. But they are not the only ones.
For decades there have not been a confirmed Chancellor of the Judiciary or a confirmed Chief Justice. Last year, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, addressing a forum hosted by the Legal Practitioners, said that the president would be appointing the Chancellor and the Chief Justice shortly.
But in November, the same Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, requested an adjournment to the case filed to compel the President to appoint a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice (CJ).
Based on a letter written to the Court by Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, Nandlall requested the adjournment because he was out of the country on official business.
This year, at the opening of the Demerara Assizes, he once more said that the appointment was imminent. The court is set to rule on this matter within weeks.
Meanwhile the Police Service Commission is still to be duly constituted nearly two years after the life of the last commission ended.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will be fully constituted in three months, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC again assured in January. This assurance came while he spoke at the inaugural Law Conference held in the High Court’s forecourt.
Things perhaps move too slowly when it comes to people. But then again, the teachers and public servant should not complain. Of course, it is frustrating.
People charged in connection with the 2020 elections are still to have their day in court. This too is frustrating.
Is there a reason? The government is not saying, so people are left to their own imaginations. It would seem that these things are not high on the list of priorities.
Infrastructure works are. So too is the introduction of the Single Electronic Identification System. And this has its questions. Criticisms are met with ad hominem attacks rather an address to the issue. The Guyana Human Rights Association can attest to this.
It would be nice if things could be dealt with in a timely manner. There are many issues, many more than the pay increases for the teachers and the public servants.
The audit of the ExxonMobil accounts is still to be made public. Last week, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr Vincent Adams, said that the first audit was done a long time ago. He said that it has been locked down by the government which fears that people would see the incompetence of the people responsible for the oil sector.
It could be that the president is busy planning ahead. He therefore forgets those things that he had said would be completed some time ago.
It would be interesting to learn what the delegation from United States Vice President Kamala Harris discussed with the government.
