“I am unaware of the letter, I am unaware of the allegation, and I am unaware of anything like that is occurring at the Immigration Department” Nandlall told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted. He advised that Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee be contacted.
His comments came in the wake of a letter in the Friday, November 9th issue of Stabroek News penned by economists Dr Maurice Odle and Professor Tarron Khemraj which said that they have been harassed by immigration at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport whenever they leave or enter the country.
“It appears that opposition supporters are being stopped and mentally harassed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport both when they enter and leave Guyana. We have on occasions been stopped and our passports held for some time as the Immigration Officer sought permission from the senior officer on whether we can proceed” the letter stated.
The duo opined that they were being targeted because of their political persuasions and cited their last episode with immigration authorities being November 6th as they were on their way to the 44th Annual Monetary Studies Conference hosted this year by the Central Bank of Suriname on behalf of the UWI-based Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance. “We were both told that because of our political activities our names are placed on a list…“It is well known that Professor Khemraj has been an active supporter of the AFC before and during the last election while Dr Odle was on the side of WPA/APNU” the letter stated.
“Professor Tarron Khemraj has experienced these stops for at least two years both when he enters and leaves Guyana. Dr Maurice Odle has been experiencing similar situations since the middle of this year.” They compared their treatment to that by the PNC regime of LFS Burnham. “It was bad enough under the Burnham regime, which had produced a Recognition Handbook of WPA activists. Today we see similar perverse activities being repeated under the Ramotar administration” according to the men.
