Less than five days after he fired Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran for verbally abusing a woman, including threatening to slap her and have her stripped, President Donald Ramotar has said that he feels sorry for his former minister who was “entrapped” and “provoked”.
The president also said the second set of comments made by the minister in which he called rights activist Sherlina Nageer a miscreant and said that she needed psychiatric help took on a life of its own and was taken out of context.
The Head of State was at the time being interviewed by host of the ‘Hard Talk’ I-radio programme, Chris Chapwanya, aired every Sunday during which he also said that Attorney General Anil Nandlall was illegally recorded and was set up. He also said that his controversial comment in December last year to a heckler at Aishalton, Rupununi that Bharrat Jagdeo would have slapped him had he been there was an off-the-cuff remark.
President Ramotar had come under tremendous pressure following Ramsaran’s abusive remarks outside of the Whim Magistrate’s Court in which he threatened to have Nageer stripped and slapped and called her a “piece of shit.” Numerous local organisations as well as the representatives of the US, Britain and Canada—all publicly condemned the former minister’s remarks. The pressure escalated after a recording of the exchange began circulating and