…having been caught with their hands in the bag
On Tuesday, October 12, Bishop Juan Edghill, a senior People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of Parliament (MP), was arrested when he appeared at the Parliament and female PPP MPs were body-searched on orders by the Speaker. For those who are in disbelief and who wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), Guyana is fully a dictatorship. The voice of the people is being silenced.
I will not sugar-coat what happened in Guyana’s Parliament on Monday, October 11 and continued on Tuesday, December 12. It was a nasty, ugly, all-out assault on Guyana’s Parliament, MPs, the Opposition, and Guyana’s democracy. Adding to the disgrace and egregiousness of the attack is the intent – to stop transparency and accountability. Budget 2018 hides billions for ulterior motives and APNU/AFC wants to avoid scrutiny. Their gambit, having been exposed, they want to avoid any further exposure. Above all they are desperately avoiding any further scrutiny into the US$18 million Exxon pay-off.
One day after the world observed International Human Rights Day, the Speaker of the National Assembly called in Police to arrest Bishop Juan Edghill, all because the MP wanted to question the Minister about the large increases in the finances allocated to the Office of the Presidency. For example, there was an amount for $68 million that the Minister could not explain. The Speaker now denies that he called in the Police. Who then did? The Police must say who instructed them. The Chamber is sacrosanct and Police cannot enter at their whims and fancies, unless a crime is being committed or they have been called in by the Speaker. With the Speaker’s denial, the situation now compounds itself because someone abrogated the authority of the Speaker. The President in less than three years has appointed more Commissions of Inquiry (CoI) than all the President of Guyana together since Independence. Will he now appoint a CoI?
No other person had the authority to instruct the Police to enter the Parliament to arrest anyone, unless a crime was occurring. Other than the Speaker, who might the Police have responded to? They might have responded to their Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan. Maybe they would have responded to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo or to the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon or the Attorney General or the Minister of Natural Resources; none of whom had the authority to instruct the Police in this circumstance. The entry of the Police constitutes an illegal invasion of the Parliament. Now as it stands, a crime was committed – the Police entry was illegal and they and the person or persons who instructed them to enter are guilty of desecrating the hallowed proceedings of the Parliament. In the process, they physically assaulted senior MPs, such as Priya Manickchand.
Not only did they try to muzzle the Opposition MPs, they also tried to muzzle the media. The Speaker tried to ban the media from covering the events of Monday. He instructed the Clerk to clear the Parliament Building of all media personnel. Some of the media personnel refused to be moved. In addition, as part of the muzzling, they took off all the lights and the Internet service, shutting down the Wi-Fi in Parliament. The intention was clear – prevent the shame from being broadcast around Guyana and the world. In this they failed because the whole world was watching in real time, not only because of some brave media personnel, but by the MPs themselves. The smartphone outsmarted the dictators. Inquiring minds want to know why during that time, Digicel’s data service conveniently went off.
The APNU/AFC can run and hide, they can try diversion all they want, they cannot avoid scrutiny, particularly since they have been caught with their hands in the bag, AGAIN. No matter what they say, the US$18 million paid as a signing bonus by Exxon was hidden away for ulterior motives. Their desperation is obvious because they have been caught in a conspiracy to commit a crime. But whether they answer in Parliament or outside, the Guyanese people want to know why the APNU/AFC hid away US$18 million in a secret bank account for more than 18 months. The Guyanese people want to know of the billions hidden away for alleged corrupt purposes in Budget 2018. If they have nothing to hide, why are they so desperate to avoid scrutiny?
