Dear Editor,

So we went from a lacuna in the law that allowed extradition to third countries to a lacuna that allows a government that has been shockingly invalid with respect to bringing drug kingpins to justice to exercise discretion over the very matter of extraditing drug lords. We went from a fear of third nations, all of which apart from probably Mexico and Colombia have a better record of prosecuting drug lords, to a government which has not prosecuted a single major drug trafficker making the ultimate decision regarding extradition. Since the government has never shown the will to prosecute drug kingpins some of whom masquerade as captains of industry in Guyana this amendment is a cheap joke and we all know who is jubilant. Who the hell does the government think it is fooling?

The new extradition formula was arrived at “following extensive internal consultations”. I wonder who was participating in and whether there was any influence peddling and interference from a certain source during this extensive internal consultative process! The bottom line here is that the drug industry is such terrible cancer on our society that it is exerting influence and getting its way by force, threats, coercion, bribery and blackmail in Guyana. Even decent men and women doing their civil service will be forced to compromise their morality when a gun is held to their head, their families threatened and the spectre of exposure of past indiscretions raised. One has to wonder whether there is a section of the PPP ruling hierarchy that sees drug lords as a necessary evil.  At the end of the day, you deal with criminals of all types and if you cannot deal with some of them such as drug kingpins you ensure your extradition mechanism is oiled to send them to those nations that are capable of dealing with them.

Yours sincerely,
(Name and address supplied)