As the parking meter corruption within the Georgetown City Council stinks to heaven, President David Granger found no reason to address this matter when he visited the City Council this week. APNU/AFC in the meantime will now review the parking meter contract, not caring that it is interfering with the business of the Council and not caring that it has set the example for the City Council by its own sole sourcing.
If there is one thing that we cannot debate, it is that APNU/AFC has been clueless since assuming the mantle of Government over a year ago. It has been consistently clumsy, almost invariably confused and reckless far too often. There has not been a day where one or more of these things apply. This past week the Prime Minister showed up in New York City to attend a conference hosted by the Global People of Indian Origin. Moses Nagamootoo, just over a year ago, not far from the venue of this conference had disavowed his Indianess, but had the temerity to attend the conference because it was another free trip to boast his ego.
The next couple of days in New York, he was on a drinking holiday. All throughout the trip he had a convoy of Secret Service escorting him, at the expense of the Guyanese people. All of this at a time when APNU/AFC has totally ignored the plight of thousands of people in Region Five who have endured almost three months of flooding. Nagamootoo found it more pressing to be in New York to have a jolly good time. This smacks of clumsiness, confusion and recklessness, but equally uncaring behaviour.
Meanwhile, President Granger last week vehemently objected to the death penalty, insisting that no one will be executed on judicial order under his watch. Then why do we have laws that permit judges to sentence people with the death penalty? I commend Granger for his courage in articulating a position that is consistent with the views of an increasing number of countries around the world and for taking a position that is progressive.
But Granger is President of Guyana and head of the APNU/AFC coalition in Government. The same Government and the same APNU/AFC included 14 offences that are punishable by the death penalty in their amended Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism legislation earlier in the year. His Attorney General when informed in the Parliament that the death penalty for the given offences would mean that Guyana was deliberately choosing to disavow our commitments to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and we were heightening our non-compliance with our international obligations, insisted that the death sentences in the law were requirements under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It was obvious then and it has become clear since that he was not telling the truth.
But the clumsiness and confusion have been further exemplified by the President’s position. The President proclaims that he was not supportive of the death penalty, a sentence that he would have to sign off on before anyone can be executed. Executing a prisoner sentenced to death is not possible without the signature of the President. This demonstrates confusion and recklessness in conducting the affairs of our country. With all the lawyers in the Cabinet and all the people who seem to have answers for everything, did no one tell the Attorney General and the President that FATF did not require the death penalty? Did no one reminded the President and the Cabinet that Guyana is under Procedural Review by the United Nations Human Rights Committee and that among our commitments is the abolishment of the death penalty?
The President cannot extricate himself from responsibility by claiming that it was not him that introduced a law requiring Judges to sentence people to death because the legislation taken by his Attorney General to the Parliament requires Cabinet approval and he is the Chair of the Cabinet. In addition, the legislation became law because the President assented to it. He not only approved it as Chairman of the Cabinet, but subsequently when there were public revelations that the Attorney General misled the nation pertaining to the reasons for the death penalty for the 14 offences, President Granger still assented to the law. This is clumsy; it is clearly confusion, but it is reckless in pushing Guyana into a rogue nation status.
Every day, examples of clumsiness, confusion and recklessness are evident. Milk not recommended for children is allowed on the shelves even though the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department ordered it be taken down from the shelves and destroyed. The order is not a voluntary one and the Ministry of Health is supposed to remove the product. But the distributor is a supporter of APNU/AFC. Rewarding him is more important than the health of the people. This is the kind of confusion and recklessness that prevail today in Guyana.
