City Mayor, Duncan slapped with inciting racial hostility charge

– released on $200,000 bail each

Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine and suspended APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Sherod Duncan have each been placed on $200,000 bail by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for allegedly attempting to excite racial hostility.
Charged by the Police on Wednesday, December 14, the pair appeared in the Georgetown court of the Chief Magistrate on Thursday to formally answer joint charges, the first of which alleges that on December 12, at New Market Street Georgetown, they intentionally transmitted a video attempting to excite racial division.

The second joint charge alleges that on the same day and at the same location, they attempted to incite racial hostility to the public on the ground of their race.
They have each been placed on $100,000 bail on each of the charges, after pleading not guilty. Their case will continue on January 20, 2023.
Duncan and Narine face two additional counts of obstructing the free flow of traffic. They appeared before Magistrate Clive Nurse in the traffic court and again denied these charges, and were placed on self-bail.
They were represented by a battery of Opposition-aligned lawyers, including Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Darren Wade and Amanza Walton-Desir.
Opposition members and scores of their supporters who had gathered outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts yesterday in protest at these men being charged have dubbed the charges as politically motivated.
Following advice from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Police Force has instituted charges against the two, who had each been initially released on $100,000 station bail. The charges stem from certain remarks the Mayor had made while protesting the removal of vendors from the positions they occupied in front of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) at New Market Street in Georgetown on Monday evening.
Backed by the vendors, Mayor Narine lay on the roadway to prevent trucks from carrying away the vendors’ food caravans and stalls. Mayor Narine descended into making a series of serious accusations against President Dr Irfaan Ali, including that the Head of State is creating an Islamic State in Guyana. Duncan had also conducted himself in a similar manner.
Narine had gone to the area after the Public Works Ministry had initiated action to remove vendors occupying spaces along New Market Street, between Thomas and East Streets, as of Monday, following notices that they were impeding the flow of traffic in the vicinity.
Remarks uttered by Georgetown Mayor Narine, accusing the President of creating an Islamic State, were on Tuesday vehemently condemned by Government, the Private Sector, and Civil Society, among others. His comments were met with immediate backlash and calls for his immediate resignation on the ground that he was unfit to hold such office.
Narine, who is a pandit, was rebuked for his statement by the Guyana Pandits Council and its affiliates, which vehemently condemned the utterances he made.
“We believe strongly that his words were inappropriate and highly disrespectful to the President of Guyana His Excellency Dr Irfaan Ali, and the Muslim community. Guyana is a country in which all religions are treated equally and allowed to practice their ideals and principles freely. Let us spread love, tolerance, and unity, instead of hate and divisiveness,” the Guyana Pandits Council has said in a statement.
Duncan was charged in January for allegedly committing a cybercrime, and was released on $200,000 bail when he appeared at the Diamond/ Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts. It is alleged that on January 11, without legal or lawful justification or excuse, Duncan used a computer system to publish electronic data about Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) IT Manager Aneal Giddings, 36, with intent to humiliate, embarrass, and cause him emotional distress.
Duncan was arrested by ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters after Giddings reported that he referred to him as “jagabat” and “trench crappo” among other disrespectful and derogatory names during his Facebook show, “In the Ring”.
(The term jagabat has several meanings in the Caribbean. In Trinidad it means a promiscuous woman, and in Guyana it means a despicable or contemptible person; while crappo is the local spelling for the French “crapaud”, meaning toad; trench crappos are particularly large and unsightly).
Giddings complained that the statements have caused him significant emotional stress and humiliation. Police, in their probe, downloaded the video of the show from a Facebook page under the name “Sherod Avery Duncan” and a statement was taken from Giddings.