Opposition party the AFC yesterday called for the removal of Kwame McCoy from the Office of the President (OP) and the Rights of the Child Commission, hours after his conviction for assault and making threats.
OP press and publicity officer McCoy was found guilty of charges of assault and using threatening language, for which he was ordered to pay $70,000 in fines (See story on page 11). The incident stemmed from a row during last year’s elections campaign.
However, with McCoy’s conviction, the AFC said it is “imperative” that President Donald Ramotar now “act honourably and remove the unprofessional, irrational and intensely controversial Mr. McCoy from the employ of the Office of the President.”
“Now that he has been found guilty of assaulting the citizenry of this country, no longer can Mr. McCoy enjoy the confidence of His Excellency or the people of Guyana,” it said in a statement, while also welcoming the verdict as one that will bring some measure of relief to the Guyanese populace.
“The party senses that we, as a people, are coming to the realisation that the days of PPP government officials doing as they please and getting away scot free are coming to an end,” it added.
Although the party was disappointed at the “paltry” sentence, it was pleased with the conviction and called it another marker in the nation’s march towards true democracy built on equality and justice.
The party, however, warned that for OP to continue to engage McCoy in an important position, Guyanese would be left with the view that Ramotar is harbouring and sheltering persons of “unbecoming and divisive character” within the highest office in the land. It added that the retention of McCoy’s services would be certain to “diminish the already tattered credibility” of the OP.
In this context also, the AFC called for McCoy’s status as a member of the Rights of the Child Commission be revoked. “Given the seriousness of the nature of the charge of which he has been found guilty, it has now been proven that McCoy lacks the integrity to sit on such an important Commission,” it said.
‘Super-salaried’
Meanwhile, the AFC also called on President Ramotar to immediately commission an independent human resources audit at the OP, in light of a disclosure by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh of the scale of the salaries being paid to some contracted workers there, including a number of high-profile members of the ruling party.
According to the AFC, there is an “indecent number of unproven and inexperienced ‘advisors’ who are benefitting from the largess of the PPP government with scandalously super salaried and loosely defined tenures at OP” and it urged an audit, so that taxpayers can be informed “as to how billions of their tax dollars are being utilised, or rather squandered, through the OP for the sole purpose of filling the pockets of party faithfuls.”
Based on a disclosure by Singh in the National Assembly, among the PPP members employed at OP are the grandson of former presidents Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan, Cheddi Jagan III, a contracted employee being paid $478,476 monthly for services as at attorney and Charles Ramson, the son of the former Attorney General, who is designated as Technical Legal Director, for which he is paid $430,196 monthly.
Also among the PPP members on staff at OP as contracted workers are: presidential advisor Gail Teixeira ($967,985 monthly, representing a salary plus allowances); Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, also a presidential advisor ($412,266 monthly); presidential advisor Navin Chandarpal ($470,000 monthly); Indra Chandarpal, who is an MP for the PPP and is listed as the “Prime Executive of the Co-ord. Council [Women and Gender Equality Com-mission] ($393,117 monthly); Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon ($895,326 monthly); Deputy Cabinet Secretary Hydar Ally ($550,064 monthly); Mahendra Roopnarine, also known as Romel Roopnarine, who is listed as a “Press Undersecretary OPL” and who served as the PPP/C’s Public Relations officer during last year’s elections ($395,000 monthly) and McCoy ($334,850 monthly, including allowances).
