Opposition parties and some members of the religious community have expressed uneasiness at President Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent statement about the law governing the operation of casinos, calling it a complete turnaround from what he had promised the nation three years ago.
During the official opening of the Princess casino on Friday evening, Jagdeo strongly hinted that his administration may amend the law regarding casino gambling to allow Guyanese the freedom to patronize local casinos, as he stated that it was “bothersome” to a government which believed in giving its citizens choices.
Responding to Jagdeo’s recent statement, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman said “it is the height of hypocrisy [by the President] to have brought the law to Parliament, fight the opposition to pass it and to now condemn it”. Trotman said too that the President’s statements completely contradict what he had told the religious leaders and the nation when he promised that Guyana would enact legislation similar to that of the Bahamas. Trotman said the Bahamian legislation does not permit nationals to patronize casinos in that territory.
Trotman, while expressing his concern, argued that the government has a right to protect its citizens from vices and opening the casino to all Guyanese was not the way to go. He noted that in countries with small economies, casinos tend to have a corruptive influence on the society. According to the AFC Leader, this “is strange flip-flopping” by the President.
Jagdeo on Friday said he was not in favour of gambling, but highlighted some of the concerns he had with the legislation that permits only foreigners and guests of the hotel to be customers of the casino. “We have had to put limitations on who come into these casinos. But frankly speaking, it is particularly bothersome to me that the legislation that we have passed, which I fully subscribe to, creates a situation… akin to apartheid…”, he said. “How it evolves in the future, I don’t know, but there’re various forces acting at this point in time… For me, particularly, this is something that I find distasteful. Guyanese should be able to enjoy all the choices in their own country…,” the President added.
GAP/ROAR MP Everall Franklin told Stabroek News that the President’s statements were perplexing but not surprising. The perplexity, he explained, was due to the fact that the President was now criticizing a bill that he (Jagdeo) had proposed and assented to. “The President was the author of that piece of apartheid,” he said.
“I personally don’t believe that we should be exposed to that period,” Franklin said when asked his thoughts about amending the law to permit locals to gamble freely in casinos. The general ambience of casinos, Franklin argued, is not helpful to the society since there are a lot of connected vices. He noted that while the administration was showing its responsibility to the physical air with its Low Carbon Development Strategy it was not showing the same care for the moral air of the society.
He said too that it was clear that the statements and promises that the President made at the time the bill was passed were simply acts to satisfy the religious community which was against the bill. He said that if the government wanted to permit locals into the casinos, it should have said so plainly from the onset so that proper regulations could have been discussed in the National Assembly at the same time. Franklin also suggested that the President may be coming under pressure from some of his friends to have the law amended.
Franklin explained to this newspaper that if the majority of persons see benefit in amending the legislation, he sees no problem if the administration does so but he would not support this personally. He also openly questioned what certain members of government who are religious had to say on this matter now.
PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, when contacted, said he would not comment on the issue at this time. However, he said that a response on the matter may be forthcoming at a later date.
Meanwhile, some sections of the religious community are also concerned about the Head of State’s recent statements. President of the Guyana Evangelical Fellow-ship (GEF) Pastor Elsworth Williams said that the Christian community had noted the implications behind the President’s statements and was planning to respond. Williams, who was one was one of the persons at the forefront of the picketing exercises by the Christian community when the Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Bill was before the National Assembly in 2007, said that Jagdeo’s statements contradicted what he had told some members of the Guyana Council of Churches at a special meeting he had convened with them at that time.
While acknowledging that freedom of choice is very important, Williams said that “the government is not there to dictate or preside over morality but it is there to set a framework for an environment that is conducive to nation building”. However, he argued that permitting casino gambling by locals is not a step towards nation building since it opens the floodgates to a lot of problems. He also noted that there were other countries too where the law barred locals from patronizing casinos because of the obvious negative implications of casinos.
President of the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) Ferouz Fazeel said the matter had not been discussed by the CIOG as yet. He said he had not heard the statement himself but said from what he had gathered it was still only in the pipeline.
At the appropriate time, he said, the CIOG will make a comment on the matter. In 2007, the CIOG had also expressed concerns about the bill to establish casinos locally.
Meanwhile, efforts to obtain a response from the Guyana Hindu Dharma Sabha on the matter yesterday were unsuccessful.
