Amid all the gloom in Georgetown last week, there was one little ray of comedy in the form of some bashful protestors in front of Mr Khemraj Ramjattan’s office. They tried hard to remain incognito while they paraded, although the approach of our reporter precipitated their sudden retreat down the road. Such reticence, of course, is rare among Guyanese protestors (or any protestors), so who were they and what were they protesting about? One can only presume it was the government/ruling party with the usual allegations about the sources of AFC funding and Mr Ramjattan’s vehicle concession. After all, they are the only ones to have made the allegations and they are the only ones who need to hide their identities. They are simply trying to avoid exposure for their forlorn attempt to distract public attention from the proceedings in a New York courtroom.
And those proceedings reached their denouement on Thursday, at least where Mr Robert Simels was concerned, since he was convicted (among other things) of plotting to silence witnesses in the case involving Mr Roger Khan. The jury therefore accepted the prosecution’s arguments, and by extension, the evidence on which these rested. Those who cautioned that everyone should wait until there was a verdict before drawing any conclusions, now have their verdict, so the question is, what happens now?
The only government official to speak at some length on this subject so far has been Attorney General, Mr Charles Ramson, who told reporters on Friday that an investigation into Roger Khan’s operations here would be possible if a judge were to direct the DPP to initiate a probe following a police investigation. Such a probe, he said, could not be initiated at the political level, and he was quoted as explaining that, “The enforcement agencies have got to play their part in enquiring whether there is any truth about the allegations that are coming out in the press; it’s one thing to say things in the press, but it’s another thing to have actual statements in front of the investigating agencies.”
These comments were limited to the question of Mr Khan’s activities here, although Mr Ramson did not seem prepared to entertain any suggestion that Guyana’s most notorious drug dealer had exported narcotics from this country. As we reported, at his briefing he challenged a questioner to produce the evidence from anywhere in the press that Khan had “exported it from here.”
He was even more feisty about possible government links to Mr Khan; “I don’t know about that!” we reported him as saying, “The Minister whose name was called has categorically and publicly denied any involvement.”
The Attorney-General then proceeded to provide a testimonial for Dr Ramsammy, the name at the centre of the allegations about government links: “Speaking for myself, I know Minister Ramsammy, and at one stage I thought they really meant me, because it’s more in my kind of character make-up to get involved at that level. I don’t believe Minister Ramsammy would ever get involved in something like that, I know the man!”
There are three issues here, all of which are connected, and two of which are intimately connected. The first concerns any crimes committed by Mr Khan in Guyana, and the second and third relate to government involvement and the involvement of the Minister of Health specifically. Where the last is concerned, Mr Ramson’s character reference for his colleague will not make the allegations go away; as we said in an earlier editorial, only a credible formal process could clear his name. Neither, as we said before too, will outright denials help the government’s case; again, only a credible formal process could dispel the suspicion which hangs like a dark cloud over the administration. And because the accused, so to speak, is the government, the members of any inquiry would have to come from outside Guyana; a local process would simply not meet the criterion of credibility.
The law enforcement agencies have come under considerable criticism for not investigating Roger Khan’s criminal activities here; Mr Ramson has suggested a procedure by which this could be instigated, while the President told the media some time ago that the police force had an obligation to investigate any breach of local laws, and that he had urged Commissioner Henry Greene to write to the US government. This apparently, the Commissioner had done. Certainly testimony from the Simels court case at least is on the public record and would not be difficult to obtain, so we are now beyond the stage where government spokesmen can give the excuse that they cannot proceed because all they have are newspaper reports.
The problem is, however, how far would the local authorities get with any investigation, considering their reluctance since the retirement of former Commissioner Winston Felix to follow up on Mr Khan’s criminal activities here? And what confidence would potential witnesses have in those authorities, more especially in the light of the recent revelations? If the government has made no formal move to clear its name, then inevitably the public will draw its own conclusions, not just about the government, but also about the integrity of any local investigation into Mr Khan’s operations here.
The Attorney General told the media on Friday that he didn’t want to believe “that this Roger Khan story must override what is happening on a day-to-day basis in the country.” If he meant that it was not a major issue which took precedence over most day-to-day occurrences in the country, then he is wrong. It is an issue which goes to the moral foundations of the government, and it cannot be by-passed, ignored, downgraded or swept under the carpet.
Similarly, the government cannot distract attention from the issue by protests outside the offices of the officials from another party; that is an exercise which borders on farce. It has also made counter-allegations of criminal links on the part of the PNC in particular, no doubt with the aim of keeping everything corralled within the traditional realm of blame and counter-blame. That too will not help it. Clearly any serious inquiry would have to look at the entire context in which Roger Khan operated, and all the various political linkages of whatever kind with whichever group that existed from 2002 onwards.
Why won’t the government confront its problem head on? It assures us that it is in no way connected to Mr Roger Khan, but does not want to do the one thing which would demonstrate that this is so. Let President Jagdeo waste no more time: let him set up some kind of commission of inquiry whose personnel will be drawn from beyond our borders. Let us have the whole truth for a change.
