Dear Editor,
My first encounter with Carol Joseph was when she joined a taxi I was in on my way to Georgetown. It was sometime before the 2015 General Election, and the political landscape was the subject of discussion between the other two passengers, both in their early 20s. As a political analyst, I obviously joined the discussion and asked whether either was familiar with the economic situation that existed in Guyana prior to 1992. During my brief history presentation to the young voters, the driver stopped to pick up another passenger. Not knowing who she was, I continued my discussion.
It didn’t take long for Carol Joseph to let me know who she was and proceeded to verbally abuse me about “lying” about the PNC. I was sitting in the front seat and she was seated directly behind me. I warned her to desist but that only intensified her behaviour for the rest of the journey. I was happy when I arrived at my destination.
My second encounter with Carol Joseph occurred on Veterans Day last year. I was asked by the PPP/C Parliamentary Representative for Region 5 to represent her at the Veteran’s Day parade which was held in front of the Regional Office at Fort Wellington, WCB. Before the parade started, I was in conversation with the Vice Chairman and other invitees when Carol Joseph approached and distributed ‘Poppies’ to everyone in my group but ignored my presence. After she walked away, someone commented that as the organizer of the event, her behaviour was very disrespectful to a Member of Parliament. I then approached and advised her that I was filling in for my colleague, the Honourable Priya Manickchand. She said I could not do so because Priya did not inform her that she would not be attending. After I protested to the Regional Chairman, I was allowed to participate in the veterans memorial ceremony.
Carol Joseph was again verbally abusive to me as I instructed the PPP/C Councillors of the Woodland/Bel Air Local Authority Area to walk out of the kangaroo proceedings held at the local NDC office, after Minister Ronald Bulkan selected APNU+AFC Councillors as Chairman and Vice-chairman in a tied NDC where the People’s Progressive Party had won the plurality of votes in the just concluded Local Government Election. Again I ignored Carol Joseph.
Then last Thursday, at the invitation of Region 5 Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal, I travelled to Fort Wellington to attend the monthly statutory meeting of the Regional Democratic Council as an observer. Since the year started, the Regional Chairman has been prevented from conducting the people’s business because APNU+AFC Councillor Carol Joseph has been influencing the other APNU+AFC Councillors to disrupt the meetings. She was subsequently suspended, but continued to show up with the aim of disrupting these proceedings. I was armed with my video camera to document any disruption that might arise.
As I approached the location, adjacent to the Fort Wellington Police Station, I observed a hostile crowd carrying placards blocking the entrance to the RDC building. To avoid navigating my vehicle through the crowd to get into the compound, I parked my vehicle on the side of the road, some distance away from the unruly protesters.
As I approached the entrance to the compound with my video camera in one hand and my tripod in the other, the crowd zeroed in on me like a target, pushing placards in my face and trying to block my entrance to the building. As I proceeded, APNU+AFC Councillor, Carol Joseph, deliberately moved to block my approach, waving her outstretched hands up and down using derogatory comments. I tried to pass when her right hand was in the upright position, but she brought it down quickly and brushed the side of my head. I ignored this assault as I was not hurt in any way, and proceeded to the RDC Boardroom.
Shortly after, I was told that she had made a report at the nearby Fort Wellington Police Station, that I had assaulted her.
Of course, the only part of my body that came in contact with the APNU+AFC provocateur, Carol Joseph, was when her descending right hand deliberately struck me on my head. But as I said in my statement to the police, had I been so foolish to have done that, the angry mob would have torn me in pieces.
I then proceeded to video the so called ‘protestors’. They were unruly and disrespectful, even to the police. When Chairman Ramphal arrived, the mob was determined to prevent his entry to the RDC Boardroom. The ringleader, Carol Joseph, sat down in the middle of the driveway directly in the path of the Chairman’s vehicle. Several attempts by senior police officers to have her moved were met with the singing of “We shall not be moved.”
As I took video clips of an uncharacteristically subdued Carol Joseph while she defied direct instructions from a senior police officer to clear the driveway, I wondered how such a person could ever be entrusted to make unbiased decisions as an RDC Councillor in the best interest of the residents of Region 5. I urge President Granger to intervene and put an end to Carol Joseph’s disgraceful behaviour and send a strong message to APNU+AFC supporters that he will not tolerate any form of insurrection that hinders progress in Region 5 or anywhere else in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Gill, MP