Dear Editor,
The declaration of the March 2020 Presidential Election in Guyana has been on hold for months, because lawyers acting on behalf of Mr David Arthur Granger have unleashed a series of unethical court cases to keep him in power on fictitious votes cooked up by his confederates in GECOM. The world knows this!
Also, a widely transparent vote recount confirmed and further validated that Mr Granger has lost power in a free, fair, credible and transparent election. The recount even further re-exposed and confirmed the open fraud within GECOM.
Further, Mr Granger is ready and willing to be sworn in for a second term on fraud. What a disgrace! Such a major human rights issue has appropriately attracted international sanctions that are aiming to modify and align the behaviours of the fraudsters with standard norms to protect democracy. And even in the face of sanctions, Mr Granger’s lawyers continue to embrace and defend fraud.
Importantly, this situation exposes how ruthless lawyers in Guyana deliberately push fraudulent cases through the courts and destroy innocent lives. Predatory lawyers like those serving Mr Granger plant immoral ideas into the heads of their clients in sparking fraudulent court cases for a quick buck, without delivering anything to them. And their clients eventually become their victims. This is the primary reason why the Guyanese legal system is backlogged with high volumes of cases which are mostly fraudulent in nature.
Most lawyers practising in Guyana are graduates of the Hugh Wooding Law School. This makes me wonder whether this school ever teaches ethics as part of its curriculum. In the USA, lawyers refuse bad cases, because they are trained to do so, and because they can also be barred from practice. To this end, I wonder why the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) turns a blind eye to this problem.
If the GBA is not corrupt, then it needs to break its silence on this matter. Of course, there are decent and honest lawyers in Guyana, but the vast majority are predators.
Further, Guyanese with the mindset like Mr Granger and his lawyers are the people who shamelessly push fraud and create conflicts in this country. Life is unbearable because of these people. Their behaviours are highly abnormal. Importantly, I must point out that behavioural characteristics displayed by Mr Granger and his lawyers during his term in office, and even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic, are highly reminiscent of a disorder categorised by the DSM-V as anti-social personality disorder (psychopaths and sociopaths). People with this disorder show patterns of behaviour in which they repeatedly lie and repeatedly manipulate others. Also, they repeatedly violate the rights of others without any remorse, because they are devoid of a conscience. Further, they repeatedly show no respect for the rule of law.
When all of this is taken into account, it is unsurprising that a high percentage of prison inmates are diagnosed with this disorder. Moreover, the underlying basis for this disorder rests on two factors: biology (genes, brain abnormalities, neurotransmitters, etc.,) and environment (poverty, child abuse and neglect etc.,). This disorder will obviously flourish under conditions of poverty, and my observations have led me to hypothesise that there is a high prevalence of this disorder in Guyana.
Moreover, every issue raised in this letter converges onto the topic of morality. And the Child Care and Protection Agency (CPA) within the Ministry of Social Protection is tasked with the responsibility of shaping moral development and in guiding moral roles in the family unit and society. The functions of this Ministry are critically important. However, this agency is silent on every immoral and behavioural issue in Guyana. Why? Because it is also corrupt, like GECOM, through a lack of diversity. And, in spite of the pervasive anti-social behavioural problems observed daily in Guyana, virtually nothing is being done to address them.
To this end, immediate interventions are needed to guide and synchronise behaviours with the norms of society, in allowing Guyana to develop for the betterment of all. However, I have zero confidence in the ability of our leaders to recognise the direct link between the high displays of abnormal behaviour and poverty in Guyana.
Sincerely,
Annie Baliram (PhD)
