The alleged placing of portraits of President David Granger and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo on the floor of the Number 52-74 Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) building is now a police matter after a report was made.
NDC Chairman Anil Ramgahan, 30, of Number 70 Village, Corentyne, confirmed to Stabroek News that he removed the pictures from the walls of the NDC building but denied that he placed them on the floor or caused damage to them. He said that he initially requested the overseer, Ravindra Dass, to remove the pictures since, he claimed, “the government is unconstitutional.”
However, he said, Dass refused to do so and told him that he did not want to get into politics since he is an administrative staff and not a politician. “I understood his point of view and why he didn’t want to get involve so I removed the pictures myself and placed it on a filing cabinet,” Ramgahan told Stabroek News. He claimed that he then asked Dass “to put the pictures up for safe keeping.”
Ramgahan said that he has since been informed that after he left the NDC office, the lone APNU+AFC councillor on the council, Lakeram Singh, and an AFC Regional Councillor, Gobin Harbhajan, were contacted. He alleged that the president and prime minister’s framed pictures were then placed on the floor for photos to be taken of them there.
Ramgahan said that he will be launching an investigation today to determine exactly what transpired after he left and according to him, he believes the persons who actually placed the pictures on the floor should be held accountable.
He added that staff at the NDC witnessed him placing the framed pictures on the filing cabinet. “You can come and talk with staff here if the overseer allows you to and they will tell you,” he said. Ramgahan further noted that he felt as though he was well within his rights as chairman of the NDC to remove the president and prime minister’s pictures from the wall. He said that no damage was done to the pictures while they were being removed.
Meanwhile, when contacted yesterday, Singh told Stabroek News that he was contacted by the overseer about the issue. When questioned where were the president and prime minister’s pictures when he arrived at the NDC, he paused and said, “on the floor.”
According to Singh, he was told that the chairman ordered the overseer to remove the pictures and after the overseer “did not agree to remove the pictures he ask for a scissors and remove them himself.” Singh is contending that the pictures were placed on the floor by the chairman. He said that he has since filed a report at the Number 51 Police Station.
Efforts to contact the overseer on the matter yesterday proved futile.
Harbhajan, meanwhile, when contacted, said that when he arrived after Singh at the NDC building, the framed pictures were on a bench. He said that he assumed that the overseer had picked them up from the floor.
Further, he said, he believes that Ramgahan should have used better judgement and not removed the framed pictures since residents within the NDC would visit the building to pay rates and taxes as well as carry out other business.
