The PPP Central Executive has reprimanded senior party member Kellawan Lall over his conduct on November 18, during a rum shop brawl with a teenager and subsequently discharging his weapon.
Questioned about the issue at a PPP press conference yesterday, PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar said, “Kellawan Lall was spoken to very seriously about this issue by the party”.
Ramotar was asked whether the party was satisfied with just taking note of the incident involving Lall, who is also Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, and the teenager; whether “taking note” was sufficient for a party that holds itself accountable to the public; and whether the party had any intention of bringing Lall before a disciplinary committee.
He said Lall was spoken to by the Central Executive of the party. “It was seen as a reprimanded by the party,” he added.
Discharging a weapon in the public was indiscreet on Lall’s part, Ramotar said. However, he said he did not think that the whole story was made fully public based on what Lall explained to the party. “Probably he needed to tell the whole story in the first place,” he opined.
He said the party had “very high standards”, but also gives its members the opportunity to correct themselves. “We are not a party that would just kill people for the first mistake that they make,” he said adding that the party has disciplined its members in the past, though not for one incident. “It has to be over a series,” he said.
When the public outcry over the incident calling also for accountability was cited, Ramotar said there might not have been so much of a public outcry as the concentration of the outcry coming from the Stabroek News. He said the issue was more widely reported in the Stabroek News than in the rest of the media.
Meanwhile the AFC is to bring a motion before the National Assembly to have Lall explain his conduct and behaviour in the rum shop brawl and shooting incident. The motion, being out forward by AFC Leader Raphael Trotman, is also asking that in the absence of a sufficient and satisfactory explanation provided by the minister, the National Assembly should state its displeasure with his conduct.
Lall has not made a public statement on the issue. The teenager involved, Joseph Doodnauth, alleged that Lall first accosted and cursed him. Lall then left, returned and continued with a stream of expletives. He followed up with another volley of profanity after which Doodnauth said he rebuked him over his behaviour. An argument then ensued at which point Lall is alleged to have taken out his firearm and struck Doodnauth on his forehead, causing a deep wound and leaving him bloodied. Doodnauth said he then left the scene. The minister followed in his vehicle and allegedly jammed him with the vehicle.
Doodnauth said the minister then emerged from the vehicle and allegedly fired several shots in the air and also threatened him.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has told the media that he was not going to ask Lall to step down from his job, nor was he going to ask him to step aside to facilitate investigations into the firing of shots in the air. He said neither Lall nor the teen was interested in pursuing the matter. (Miranda La Rose)
