The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday said that the sexual insult directed by a Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall, on February 9th to a female opposition parliamentarian across the floor of the National Assembly should be seen as a watershed moment rather than treated as the routine ‘rough and tumble’ of Parliament.
Dharamlall was heard saying to the MP “You got to get a dildo, that’s what you looking for”. He was not sanctioned by Speaker Manzoor Nadir for the remark nor upbraided by his fellow MPs.
In a statement, the GHRA said that the incident constituted sexual harassment of both the MP in question and indirectly of all female MPs who have to sit and listen to exchanges “which would not be tolerated even in a well-run public bar”. Such behaviour, it said, also undermines the longer-term goal of a Parliament composed equally of males and females.
“It speaks volumes about the status of women in Guyana that other MPs have not called for Mr. Dharamlall to be seriously disciplined, up to and including dismissal from Parliament. While Mr. Dharamlall should be made accountable, the shame should be shared by those tolerating such behaviour under the guise of parliamentary ‘rough and tumble’. This is not only an issue of an individual’s rancour, it is now a rancid parliamentary culture, aggravating already dangerously adversarial territory”, the GHRA asserted.
It noted that the Speaker of Parliament “couldn’t find the courage to address this deteriorating situation”. While correctly disciplining the histrionics of another Member Sherod Duncan, whose behaviour only served to reinforce the nauseating Parliamentary culture, the GHRA said that the Speaker has yet to find fault with Dharamlall.
The GHRA said that the Speaker of Parliament and the Ministry of Human Services, the official Agency for the advancement of women, are still to find their voice on this matter. Focusing the ministry’s ‘Spotlight’ programme on advocacy matters such as these would do more to reassure women than a multiplicity of non-governmental-type projects which ruffle no feathers, the GHRA added.
