Dear Editor,
Guyana is at the crossroads, literally at the intersection of courageous right and whimpering wrong. The issue of the Roger Khan asset probe and criminal investigation is a moment of truth that defines the nation and sets it course. It raises questions about who wields the ultimate power in the land and how power is wielded while the masses wait with hushed breath. When the sitting government of the day and its attendant institutions balk at conducting an asset probe or criminal investigation of a drug kingpin who has openly admitted guilt before a competent court in a foreign jurisdiction, it signals that we have descended into the entrails of a dark passage.
The only explanation left as to why a man who has pleaded guilty in a court system that is unquestionably better than the criminal justice system in Guyana remains immune from review in Guyana is that Guyana is better at protecting the rights and freedoms of those who confirm guilt by pleading guilty before trial.
When a government lacks the fortitude to investigate self-confessed criminals and cowers under a pile of pathetic excuses in the process one has to wonder where the nation is heading. This is an invitation for any common criminal to commit crime as much as it is an invitation for criminals to ‘hide’ their assets in Guyana. Is this the nation that seeks to establish an advanced offshore financial sector? These are the actions that encourage criminality rather than combat criminality. Fear is a terrible crime in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
