The Alliance For Change (AFC) is to study Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Kellawan Lall’s “remorseless” statement on his involvement in a rum shop brawl with a teenager and firing of a weapon on November 18, last to see how it affects the motion the party has taken to Parliament.
The motion calls for a statement from the minister on the incident and in the absence of one, for him to be censured by the National Assembly.
Asked to comment on Lall’s statement, issued on Old Year’s Day, Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin yesterday said he had spoken ad nauseam on the matter and his views have not changed. “If you have at the highest level of the land, indiscipline and breaches of rules, how could you expect his ministers to follow and do differently?” he asked.
Irrespective of what Lall said occurred, Corbin said, the action he displayed “is a reflection of the callousness of the PPP administration.”
He said if the matter was put in the political realm “you are helping the PPP. Once you put it into that framework it is locked into the usual PPP/PNC bickering.”
The issue, the PNCR Leader said, was a highly moral one, which the society should be outraged about. “It is the public censure which the PPP should understand. It is not just a simple matter between the PPP and the PNC.
It is a very important matter for the entire society. Here we have people who are supposed to set high standards behaving in that manner. If it is put into the context between just the PPP and the PNC, it loses the impact,” he said.
He added that he thought the way a number of organisations condemned the matter was commendable. “That there could be public condemnation to me would be more effective than leaving it only in the political realm. Ultimately, the people of Guyana have to make that decision because come next elections they might still go back and elect the PPP to government. They have the final sanction to judge now. Is this the type of government they want? That is the ultimate sanction. Kellawan Lall is just an example of all that has been happening for the last four years in this country,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman said that he had great difficulty with the outlay of the facts and Lall’s attack on the Stabroek News in what should have been a statement on the incident that occurred.
Trotman said it was unfortunate that Lall had not provided the explanation earlier. “All that could have been averted had he taken the principled position from day one other than what the public was getting from other sources,” he said, adding, “We will study the implications for our motion.”
He said that the party would not withdraw the motion but might have to amend it. The party would have to decide whether it does in fact provide a good and acceptable explanation and to distil the facts from the emotional outburst.
“There appears to be
