Dear Editor,
I read in Stabroek News of the March 2, 2007, excerptsfrom the US Drug Report on Guyana. While others may be alarmed at the disclosures in the report I am not for these reasons.
The US Government has been aware, before the turn of the century, that the Guyana Government has been giving the ‘Nelson eye’ to drug trafficking, money laundering and festering corruption in high places. Drug traffickers and money launderers flaunt their new wealth by erecting four and five storey commercial buildings in the heart of Georgetown almost in defiance.
It is difficult to believe therefore that the Guyana Government will now implement legislation to honour its obligations under the 1988 UN Drug Convention. And even if it does, it will be enforced in its breach just as it is now, with respect to drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption. Because of government’s failure to bring the drug barons and money launderers to trial, they behave as if they are part of the Executive and are untouchable by the police and the revenue authority.
The US government also knows that Guyana’s judiciary is weak and that the judicial system is undermined by the politics of the Government eg where the President abused his constitutional authority and refuse to accept recommendations of the Judicial Service Commission to confirm acting judges; where judges are made to act for years without confirmation of their appointment for political reasons; where judges who give decisions against the government are denied selection for higher office.
The government’s disregard for the rule of law gives free rein to those holding public offices not to respect or obey the law.
As a result the courts are flooded with litigation against the government and public officers. Recent examples abound e.g. where the government sold several acres of government lands to a private citizen to build a hotel without consultation with the opposition; where long before construction of the hotel commenced, or casino legislation was passed, the government was committed to give a casino licence to the same hotel; where the President also committed public funds to the same businessman to aid in the construction of the hotel without parliamentary appr-oval; where the President in breach of the Constitution refused to assent to several bills passed by Parliament offering facetious excuses for not doing so in breach of the provisions of Article 170 of the Constitution; where moneys received by the Government from the Lottery Company are not placed into the Consolidated Fund; where the said moneys which are not put into the Consolidated Fund are used without Parliamentary appr-oval in breach of Articles 216, 217 and 218 of the Constitution; where the President appoints a tarnished Bernard Kerik as an advisor to the police force without consultation in disregard for “due process”; where the President amends the Gambling Act without prior consultation with the opposition or religious representatives; where the President discriminates in violation of Article 149D of the Constitution by withdrawing government advertising from the Stabroek News; where because the President refuses to act under the Constitution, the chief justice continues to act as chancellor holding two judicial offices at the same time in contravention of the spirit and intent of the Constitution.
From the above facts the US government must realize that the Executive Presidency in Guyana is being used as a “rogue elephant” to trample on the Constitution, the laws and the people of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Ian Wills
