…as AG seeks damages for slander over E-day ID card distribution claims

Annette Ferguson
Former Junior Housing and Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson, who has been on a recent lawsuit filing streak against various persons for alleged libel, has herself now been hit with a lawsuit from Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, who contends that she defamed his character.
According to Nandlall’s Statement of Claim against Ferguson, she is alleged to have made a defamatory statement against him on March 22, 2021 during a Round Table discussion hosted at the Arthur Chung Convention Center (ACCC) by the European Union (EU) Observer Team that participated in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections.
Nandlall said the defendant spoke and published, through a microphone, loudly and for all at the forum to hear, the following defamatory statement: “You have persons who are sitting in this room that were found distributing ID cards on elections day, not the APNU/AFC. It is the very Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall, who was found distributing ID cards in the lower East Coast corridor.”
He noted that Ferguson’s words were said in the hearing of a number of persons, including representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), the United Nations (UN), Canadian and British High Commissions, the United States Embassy, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), several political parties, and members of the media.
“In their natural and ordinary meaning, and by way of innuendo, the (defendant’s words) were meant to mean (a) that the claimant committed an electoral and criminal offence punishable by imprisonment (c) that the claimant is guilty of electoral irregularity (d) that the claimant was actively aiding and abetting persons to commit electoral and criminal offences punishable by imprisonment (h) that the claimant was perverting the electoral process (j) that the claimant was unfit to hold public office.

Anil Nandlall, SC