Inequality under the law – Guyana’s sad reality

Thursday, President Irfaan Ali indicated that he has not ruled out the possibility that Nigel Dharamlall – accused of child rape – could have a role in the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government in the future.

President Ali said, “In the course of natural justice, the system that supports natural justice must be allowed to work and that is what [I] did. Whether the minister who is a citizen will have any (further) work in government is not something I have considered, nor has he requested, at this moment.”

Meanwhile, attorney-at-law Khemraj Ramjattan – while explaining his role as legal counsel for the child – has expressed that adult family members of the alleged victim were bribed to drop the case.

It is sad and shameful that Guyana’s president has not completely dismissed any possibility of Dharamlall serving in the PPP government ever again.

While one agrees with the president’s assertion that the system supporting natural justice “must be allowed to work,” it is no secret that in Guyana, there is no equality under the law. No system of natural justice exists — so, what is President Ali talking about?

Given that indisputable fact, President Ali should probably be ashamed to pretend otherwise. Further, how can an alleged child rapist function effectively in any public office? The very idea is absurd.

Legal equality is a concept that is centuries old; ancient philosophers called it, “isonomy.” And it is a fundamental and indispensable pillar of democratic governance.

In a document entitled, “THE RULE OF LAW,” the following observations are made:

“The democratic state cannot guarantee that life will treat everyone equally, and it has no responsibility to do so. However, writes constitutional law expert John P. Frank, “Under no circumstances should the state impose additional inequalities; it should be required to deal evenly and equally with all of its people.”

No one is above the law, which is, after all, the creation of the people, not something imposed upon them. The citizens of a democracy submit to the law because they recognize that, however indirectly, they are submitting to themselves as makers of the law. When laws are established by the people who then have to obey them, both law and democracy are served.”

It is the sad reality, though, that the State of Guyana imposes those exact inequalities on citizens. As such, in our country inequality under the law is the unfortunate reality.