Dear Editor,
On January 1, the Guyana Chronicle published a bizarrely prepared statement purportedly from Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Kellawan Lall, that read like the work of a fourth standard pupil instead of a cabinet member with ready access to legal counsel and skilled writers in government.
Though a public statement from the minister on the so-called brawl that involved his misuse of his handgun was long overdue and, therefore, welcomed, I think he should have gotten legal advice on drafting his statement. And, judging from the angry tone he has ill-advisedly taken against Stabroek News, I also think he should consider getting some anger management counselling.
As for his explanation, I think I know what he is trying to say, but I don’t think he has done himself justice with his convoluted articulation, which he probably thought would make him sound believable.
Now, even if the fracas involving bodily assaults between relatives of a friend of the minister and the minister himself was settled amicably, the minister’s misuse of his handgun to fire a warning shot in the air can only be resolved after a police investigation to determine whether the minister used sound judgment when he fired the weapon or if he could be trusted to carry a handgun in public again. This aspect of the incident required a legal disposition that should be available to the public!
At this juncture, if blame is to be apportioned for the ugly fallout from this whole fiasco, it has to be jointly shared by the police and the DPP.. The police reportedly said it sent its completed investigation to the DPP, but the DPP reportedly said it received nothing of the sort.
The police and the DPP, which serve the public through the government, still haven’t given the public the final legal disposition of this high profile incident, even after weeks elapsed and the minister had ample time to assemble his thoughts to provide a statement. In the absence of any official statement from the other alleged victims and violators or their legal representatives, however, it is the responsibility of the police, or the DPP (if the police did send the case to the DPP) to issue a final statement to the public. Will the police or DPP ever contradict the minister? Or do the police and the DPPP view the minister’s statement as representing legal closure?
One reason why I stress the importance of an official statement is that I recall reading where eyewitnesses to the incident said shots were fired, but in his account, the minister said he fired a single shot. The police investigation into whether the gun was fully loaded at the time of use or how many live rounds were left at the time they retrieved the gun or how many shells were retrieved at the scene of the shooting should either corroborate or contradict the minister or the eyewitnesses.
Credibility is a major factor here; not only for the individuals involved, but also the police force which is known to have come back in two days with ballistic test results proving that an assault weapon that was used in a deadly attack in one area was also used in another deadly attack in another area. Where is the police report on the minister’s fired weapon, including recovered shells?
As the matter now stands, we have an unofficial account of the incident from the alleged victim and eyewitnesses that was read in the newspapers, an official statement from the minister in the Chronicle, but no statement from the Police or the DPP. In fact, the public still awaits a statement on the final disposition of the case involving the other PPP MP who also fired his weapon as a warning sign to some deviant soliciting the services of a street hooker.
As for the minister’s misplaced threats of slander and libel charges against Stabroek News, this is a cowardly posture that allows him to hide behind his party’s general secretary who stuck his foot in his mouth when he implied that the Lall story would have died a natural death if Stabroek News hadn’t kept it alive.
What balderdash! Is this how a presidential wannabe should view treatment of certain issues in the public domain?
By the way, had a cabinet official in the United States or Britain or Canada done what Mr Lall reportedly did, the free press in those countries would have hounded this story into infinity, the police would have stepped in, and the public would have been apprised constantly until closure.
But this is Guyana, and that is why Mr. Lall appears, on the one hand, to be the unfortunate target of an effective tabloid that is serving a public good here, and, on the other hand, out-of-control abandoned by his inept government that is doing the public no good here.
To an irate Mr Lall, don’t you realize that it was because Stabroek News was doing its job that we, the reading public, are now privy to what amounts to your own bizarre account? And ironically, weren’t you the one who promised that you would make a statement if Stabroek News were to name you as the minister in the fracas, thereby making you an enabler to the perpetuation of the very story for which you now appear indignant at Stabroek News for covering?
Look, while you may have to thank friendly sources and forces that your case seems closed, in the court of public opinion, as well as in a court of law, you really don’t have a legal case against Stabroek News.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
