Dear Editor,
Permit me to lend my unsolicited but consummate approbation to the unequivocal assertion made by Mr Ganga Persaud with respect to the most recent allegation by Mayor H Green about the printing of law books scandal (Guyana Chronicle July 3). I am extremely pleased that the Minister, my then Permanent Secretary, has finally quashed the media propaganda generated, I believe, by malcontents, untutored in investigative journalism.
The unvarnished truth is that, given the fact that the work of the contracted overseas-based group had been substantially completed on the basis of their commitment to the improvement of access to the revised Laws of Guyana, at my request, relying on my salutary relationship with the major members of the grouping, they ought to have been compensated on a quantum meruit basis. Guyana’s justice sector was disadvantaged by the “procedural error” to which reference was made but consistent with the transparency and accountability principle, a conscious Cabinet decision was found to be politically appropriate and the grouping apparently waived their recourse to the law.
Upon my return to the helm of the ministry in February 2009, I had the duty and distinct honour to complete the revision exercise and did so, with funding from the IDB and the government, in 2011, with the aid of the CD-Rom produced by the very group. Guyanese, if at all concerned, ought to have praised them for their commendable professional restraint.
I trust that this intervention would provide the final and fitting epilogue to this piece of burnished fiction ‒ The Law Book Scandal.
Yours faithfully,
Justice Charles Ramson, SC
(Retired AG and MLA)
