Members of the legal fraternity yesterday called for the removal of Attorney General Anil Nandlall, while saying that the Donald Ramotar administration’s failure to do so would signal that it is above the law.
The joint call by the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) came in wake of the circulation of a damning recording of a conversation between Nandlall and Kaieteur News reporter Leonard Gildarie, in which the Attorney-General is heard saying that the use of deadly violence against the newspaper was acceptable. He is also heard intimating that President Ramotar participated in conversations with Bhena Lall in an ongoing criminal matter in return for less critical reporting by her co-defendant husband, Kaieteur News proprietor Glenn Lall.
“As leader of the Bar, the Attorney General mindful of the honour, dignity and integrity of his office should resign immediately. If he does not resign he should be removed. Any other result would be an endorsement of the Attorney-General’s conduct and an admission by the Executive that the highest moral and legal standards are not applicable to the State,” the GBA and the GAWL said in a joint statement yesterday. Already the parliamentary opposition parties, APNU and the AFC, have called for Nandlall to go as has the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA).
The 19-minute-long phone conversation referenced reports published in Kaieteur News about Nandlall’s uncle and Nandlall says Lall “feels that he is above the law” and has resorted to using the daily newspaper “as a weapon.”
“Everybody doesn’t have a newspaper to use as a weapon,” Nandlall says. “I told Adam [Adam Harris, Kaieteur News editor], I said, ‘Adam, people got weapons, right. They ain’t got newspaper to use as a weapon; they got weapons. And when you continue to attack people like that and they have no way of responding they will just walk with they weapon into that same [expletive] Saffon Street office and wha’ come shall do.”
He adds: “…Peter will have to pay for [expletive] Paul in that way. I tell you, honestly, man to man that will happen soon.” He further advised the reporter to “get out of deh,” the quicker, the better.
Nandlall has been silent in recent days, except for saying that the conversation was a private one with a friend that was illegally recorded and that the conversation was manipulated and twisted to sound like a completely different dialogue. President Ramotar and his government have since closed ranks behind Nandlall, while saying the minister’s statements were being taken out of context. Glenn Lall has since lodged a complaint with the police about Nandlall, while saying he feared for his life and the lives of his family and employees.
‘Serious infractions’
According to the GBA and GAWL, the statements made by Nandlall point to “serious legal and moral infractions” on one of the highest legal officers in our country. They said he offered knowledge of actual and planned illegal activities and noted that even in “private conversation” his comments were “deeply troubling and inappropriate,” while their candid nature calls his character and professionalism into question.
“We are most concerned that the Attorney-General appeared to be acknowledging that the use of deadly violence against the media was an acceptable reaction to frustration where public officials and other citizens are offended by what is reported about them,” they said.
“He also referred to making restitution of funds used by him for some purpose which he did not want the press to report about. The President of Guyana is said to have participated in conversations with a defendant in extant criminal prosecution to have same discontinued in return for less critical reporting by her co-defendant. Equally disturbing is his persistent objectification of the unidentified woman, which conduct flies in the face of the government’s obligations and commitments regarding respect for women,” they added.
According to the joint statement, freedom of the press and freedom of speech are essential to the rule of law and political democracy. “These freedoms result frequently in the publication of true information which may be offensive or embarrassing to some persons,” it adds, while noting that Nandlall needs no lecture on such matters as his government is well acquainted with the perils of a society where the media must be “well-behaved” or otherwise risk being killed or intimidated.
The associations added that public officials are given wide powers and great responsibility to make thousands of important decisions, many of which never see the light of day. “We expect in return for the privilege of office, that they demonstrate good character and judgment,” they said. “Where they demonstrably fail to do so either by public action or by private conduct which bears on their fitness for office, as the Attorney-General has done, such public officials should be removed from office.”
