The Bar Council of the Bar Association of Guyana yesterday warned members of the Guyana Police Force to avoid exceeding their authority and refrain from abuse while enforcing the restrictions outlined under emergency measures ordered by Minister of Public Health to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The warning came in wake of comments made by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, the Chairman of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), during a virtual press conference on Saturday.
Nagamootoo, according to the Bar Association, had suggested that the Disciplined Services may have to find a “creative” way to enforce the ‘COVID-19 Emergency Measures’ issued last Friday.
“His suggestion to pull persons by their ears taken together with alluding to examples he saw on social media of police officers in other countries beating persons and inflicting other `public policy punishment’ is reckless and ill-advised,” the Bar Council stated in a press release.
During the press conference, Nagamootoo had told reporters that the measures outlined by the Ministry of Public Health on Friday night have to be enforced by the police.
“I am hoping from tonight (Saturday night)…I know this is the instructions. Vice-President Khemraj Ramjattan has a task of his police ranks going out with bullhorns, appealing to people to go home if they are in clusters and, of course, if it becomes necessary to go into the bars… if they got to pull them out of the bars by them ears, I will say yes, get them out, send them home and that’s the way to go,” Nagamootoo had.
He noted that persons who fail to comply with the measures will face consequences. “If they are not maintaining this order, this is a law… and those who are violating the law, they will have to suffer for the violation of the law,” he had said.
The Bar Council yesterday noted that the Disciplined Services must at all times operate within the law.
“The Bar Council of The Bar Associa-tion of Guyana reminds the members of the Disciplined Services including the Guyana Police Force that as organs of the State, they are subject to the Rule of Law and the provisions of the Constitution of Guyana,” the release stated.
“We take this opportunity to highlight the right of every citizen under Article 141 of the Constitution not to be subjected to inhuman and or degrading treatment. We further re-emphasize that the components of the right to secure protection of the law under Article 144 of the Constitution, require that a punishment be prescribed by a Court of law, after following all the hallmarks of due process,” it added.
According to the Bar Association, it is not the police role to “determine and/or ascribe” punishment for an alleged breach or enforcement.
“Guyanese are human beings, not animals, and are thereby entitled to such fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution,” the release said.
The Bar Council also urged all Guyanese to be responsible in their conduct.
“…We owe as much, as a duty to ourselves, our families, our neighbours, communities and our country as a whole. As we exercise our individual fundamental rights, this exercise is not to be in breach of our respective duties of care,” it further noted.
