Minister of Local Govern-ment and Regional Develop-ment Kellawan Lall says he would have resigned without anyone calling on him to do so if he had assaulted a young man in a rum shop brawl the way it was reported by this newspaper.
Contending that he was the one who was assaulted in the November 18, 2007 incident in which a teenager, Joseph Doodnauth alleged that he was attacked by the minister and in the process sustained a wound to his head, Lall told the media when questioned yesterday that “If I had behaved in the manner that the Stabroek News reported I would have immediately resigned. I would not have waited for anybody to ask me to resign.”
Asked about the incident at a press conference he hosted in the boardroom of the Ministry of Local Govern-ment and Regional Develop-ment on the work of his ministry last year, Lall said that he has already made a statement on the matter.
He said he made the statement quite reluctantly six weeks after the incident because he had been advised not to do so as the matter was being investigated.
Nevertheless, he was otherwise influenced to make the statement even though he said he did not want to “complicate matters” since the law enforcement agencies were still to determine whether or not he used his firearm “inappropriately.”
Asked whether he felt he used the firearm inappropriately he said that under the circumstances he would not say that he used it inappropriately. “If I had behaved in the manner that Stabroek News said I did, I would have resigned. If it really did happen that way, I would not have waited for anyone to ask me to resign. I would have resigned immediately,” he reiterated.
Asked why he took six weeks to issue a statement on the incident, Lall said, “As I said, when the story came out and the manner in which it did, the lawyers advised me not to say anything because the police was investigating the matter. I, too, thought it was the best thing.”
He said, “I did not want to contribute to this trial in the newspaper which in itself was very bad
