President David Granger on Friday shrugged off criticisms over his pardoning of dozens of persons convicted of minor offences, while saying he will do so again.
“Some people are quarrelling…,” Granger said on Friday to hundreds of students and teachers who had gathered at the National Park, where a rally was held to conclude the observance of Education Month. “But I say to them [prisoners] go your way and sin no more. Get out of jail and go to college, go to universities instead… I will do it again next year and my critics will keep on complaining,” he added, while stressing that young people should be in school and not jail.
His comments appeared to be a response to the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), which has voiced its concern over the secretive manner in which the pardons were done. “While the Bar Association supports the principle of pardon, we regret that until these questions are answered, there can be no unqualified endorsement of the President’s action,” the GBA said in its Stabroek News column on Thursday.
The GBA noted that the names, offences and sentences of the convicts pardoned by Granger and released from prison have not been publicised. “As their convictions would have been a matter of public record, it is reasonable to expect that their pardons should also be made public. While the pardoned persons may very well deserve their release from prison, utilising the presidential pardon in such a mysterious manner and without setting out specific criteria is a dangerous precedent,” the GBA warned.
“It is anyone’s guess, in respect of the persons pardoned by President Granger, whether the stipulated procedures were followed, what criteria were used, and what type of pardon may have been given. Were any probation or other reports furnished on an Advisory Council, Minister or the President himself, prior to the granting of the pardon? And for those who have been pardoned, what conditions and systems have been put in place aimed to rehabilitate, reform or integrate them as full members of society? Will there be any increased penalty in the event that they commit similar or other offences in the future,” the GBA also questioned.
Granger told the gathering on Friday that too many children are going to the “Onderneeming Pri-mary School,” the “Camp Street Secondary School” and the “Mazaruni Univer-sity,” in reference to the New Opportunity Corps, the Camp Street prison and the Mazaruni Prison.
In May, Granger announced that he would pardon 60 persons who were sentenced for minor misdemeanours. Prison Director Welton Trotz later told Stabroek News that around 40 convicts had been released and he said that they were accepted into the USAID’s Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) Project.
