The law is what the government wants it to be

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If I were to say that a British writer, Eric Arthur Blair, wrote a book about the situation in Guyana, people would be calling me non-stop to find the book and to ascertain who is Eric Arthur Blair.

But if I were to say that Guyana is a classic case of Animal Farm, a book written by George Orwell, then I wouldn’t get so many phone calls. This book was written in 1945 long before Guyana became an independent country.

However, the details in the book fit the conditions in Guyana like a hand in glove. Animal Farm contends that some are more equal than others. Guyanese should have recognised this ever since the government coined the phrase, ‘One Guyana.’ It signalled that there would be One Guyana for one set of people.

There are two sets of laws; one for people associated with the government and one for the others. A young boy waved his middle finger at a motorcade transporting Bharrat Jagdeo. There were no known witnesses.

At the same time, there was no file to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the institution of a charge for the young man. The police found the boy very quickly and before he could blink, he was before the courts.

No more than three weeks ago, a young man forwarded a video of a woman abusing Black people for refusing to wear the red jersey. She also incited violence against them. She was a Black woman. There was no charge under the Cybercrime Act. Neither was there a charge under the Racial Hostilities Act.

The video was sent to the police. Public Relations Officer, Stan Gouveia, said that he sent the video to the Police Commissioner. Nothing has been heard since. The video was also sent to the Ethnic Relations Commission. The officer there said that he sent it to his commissioners. There has been a deafening silence ever since. Not so for Mudwata or Melly Mel, or some others who ended up in court. And their comments were not as vituperative as this woman’s.

A few years ago, a young woman posted that the people who supply the city with green vegetables should poison them to kill out the Black people. The only reaction to me repeating her comment was for Kaieteur News publisher, Glenn Lall, to become angry with me and to remove my column from the online edition.

Tacuma Ogunseye made some statements on a political platform. Three weeks later, the police issued a wanted bulletin for him. He walked into the police station and was promptly detained for 72 hours before he was charged. He was taken to court in shackles. His matter is still to be disposed of.

Nigel Dharamlall has been accused of raping and sodomising a child. He has not been charged. In fact, it is widely believed that efforts are being made to sweep this issue under the proverbial rug.

The Director of Public Prosecutions returned the file to the police for further investigation although the statement of the victim was pellucid. Further, the victim took the investigators to the home in which she was raped. She did more. She took them to the room in which she was raped.

The DPP told the police that she needed more evidence. Retired Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe, later said that he was charged for sexual assault on a statement that was less detailed than the one the victim in the Dharamlall matter presented.

The police have since sprung into action. Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum reportedly videotaped the victim when she turned up to tell the police that she wanted no further part of the matter.When she was interviewed earlier there was no report of her being videotaped. Then there came word that the file has been returned to the DPP. But as the DPP said earlier, she has thousands of files to contend with.  She said that she deals with them according to urgency.

Some say that the police are upholding the motto of the Guyana Police Force—to Serve and Protect. They are serving and protecting the government officials and supporters. But even on the side there were issues that seemed to take the matter along a political direction. Some people picketed the Office of the DPP. And that was before she had returned the file to the police. In a statement on the picketing, the DPP claimed that the opposition had picketed her office.

The video revealed that there were members of civic organisations, as well, in that picket line. Perhaps they were all opposition since they want Nigel Dharamlall to be prosecuted.  The outcome of this matter could see other victims remaining silent. Being raped is devastating enough. Watching the perpetrator getting support and eventually walking scot free would be more devastating.

Last week I spoke of other victims crawling out of the woodwork. I am certain that none would be bold enough to make a formal report. And their parents have to live in shame.

Some Guyanese took the Dharamlall protest to Toronto where they caught the attention of Canadians. Many Canadians said that such could not happen in Canada. From the time the complaint was lodged, the perpetrator once he held public office, would have resigned.

Dharamlall has since told the president that he is resigning. Rather than the president ordering that Dharamlall resign, he sat back and waited for instructions, this time from Dharamlall. The tail, Dharamlall, is wagging a very heavy dog, Irfaan.  But then again, the loudest dog is nothing but a poodle. Irfan Ali can talk but he has no bite.

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