Members of the Rastafarian community yesterday marked the last day of protests outside of the Office of the President (OP) over the recently enacted law that removes custodial sentences for possession of less than 30 grammes of cannabis.
They now plan to take their issues with the legislation to court.
Some two dozen persons participated in the protest outside of the OP, where they defiantly smoked cannabis as they continued to demand respect be given to the rights of their community by exempting Rastafarians from any type of prosecution under the law.
They maintain that cannabis is used as a sacrament as part of their religion and for self-medication and say that the legislation falls short of the recommendations of a CARICOM Commission on Marijuana. They have also called for the expunging of the criminal records of those who were previously charged for cannabis.
While the protestors were calling for President Irfaan Ali to send the bill back to the Parliament, he has since assented to it, making it law.
President of the Guyana Rastafari Council Ras Simeon Selassie yesterday told Stabroek News that the police tried to stop him and other protesters from smoking in front of OP but a brewing confrontation was eventually defused.
One of the protestors remained hopeful of President Ali’s intervention. Charles Agard said, “I think we are going to get a response for us to practice our right because the president is an intelligent man. For the time he in office I see him doing. So, if the president sit down and analyze for himself, and give the Rastafari community their rights, he would get good support. The president should not be prejudiced in his agreement to not allow the Rastafari community to practice their rights, he should see himself like a Rasta man.”
Ras Khafra, General Secretary of the Guyana Rastafari Council, explained that the community would be filing a civil suit to have the courts make a judgement on the matter. He added that the process had already begun as the community had already engaged a lawyer. “We are now waiting on the lawyer to send a document where we are going to put some information into it based on the protest so the lawyers can use the information to make the necessary arrangement before filing the case [in] the courts.” He said during the protest that they had given the president an entire week before they move along with the legal challenge.
Khafra added that their grievances should be facilitated and accommodated by the Government of Guyana, while noting that “even if the president is holding to the position that he’s not going to change the law, he should still engage them on the issue. “The president needs to present his case, and we too,” he said as he contended that to ignore them would be disrespectful to the Rastafarian community and to Afro Guyanese.
