Dear Editor,
Your editorial ‘Double standards?’ (Sunday Nov. 25, 2007) was well written for all to understand, but most importantly I hope that the king and his men, especially the ‘John Wayne’ minister understood. As you have correctly stated, “There should be no such thing in a democracy as one standard for the powerful and another for the impotent.” I couldn’t agree with you more.
However, on the issue of ‘Double standards’ you correctly stated, “At the very least, it brings the government into disrepute, and opens it to charges of hypocrisy and double standards.” With this said, I am equally disappointed in your newspaper’s obvious ‘double standards’ and ‘hypocrisy’. Here is an example of what I consider hypocritical of your newspaper. On March 14, 2005 (page 10) you wrote “Mystery shrouds how a Ford Navigator crashed into the eastern fence of the Police Officers’ Mess Com-pound…up to press time last night (Sunday, March 13, 2005) Stabroek News could not ascertain who owned the vehicle and the police would not say either.” Really?
Then, almost one week later (Friday, March 18, 2005) you wrote “Navigator owner repairs police fence after crash” and that the vehicle PJJ 5071 “is registered in the name of a top government official…” Wow! To this day your newspaper has failed to tell us the name of that “top govenment official.” Of course, if it was ‘impotent’ Ramdeo from Mon Repos, or Remmington from Tiger Bay your newspaper would have mentioned their names without any hesitation. Isn’t this ‘hypocrisy’?
On another issue, a few years ago the wife of an adviser to President ‘King’ Jagdeo turned up at the Public Hospital in a taxi, she was later pronounced dead on arrival. It was later revealed that she allegedly ‘drank poison’ and that her husband was immediately taken to a private hospital allegedly with some kind of ‘heart problem’. The police obviously did no investigation as to the proximate cause of the woman’s death — in fact, they should have investigated the matter in order to establish the cause of death.
The woman was buried and that was the end of the matter – yet ‘King’ Jagdeo made the very individual a minister in his regime. Only in Guyana is this foolishness allowed to happen, and yet, it is obvious that Stabroek News is following the same ‘Double standards’ and ‘hypocrisy’ of ‘King” Jagdeo and his wayward men.
Finally, you have named the individual, Mr Joseph Doodnauth , the person whom the minister assaulted, isn’t it time that you named the minister who committed this criminal act? And, we shouldn’t hold our breath on the outcome of the advice from the DPP’s Chambers. Since it was a rather straightforward case for the police to have instituted criminal charges against the rascal, and they did not; again, the impotent would have suffered. In Guyana, we would find the strangest form of democracy and a fearful press. There should be a public outcry in this matter and the ‘King” ought to flush out the gunman from his cabinet with immediate effect.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Benschop
Editor’s note
Our usual policy has been where police investigations are pending to wait until the police have decided whether to charge the person involved or not. Now that it seems that charges are unlikely, based on our detailed interview with Mr Doodnauth who was assaulted we name the minister as Kellawan Lall, Minister of Local Government.
We are also trying to ascertain from the Director of Public Prosecutions whether she has given her advice to the police yet in this matter. The fact that the parties have purported to settle a criminal matter does not, of course, bind her in any way and she is free to advise that the minister be charged.
