Dear Editor,
In the matter concerning allegations made against Minister Nigel Dharamlall, everybody is saying the right thing. We have been through this too many times before, which compels me to assert that it does not mean that those making speeches have doing the right thing as their foremost priority. Thus, we have what I call the Dharamlall dilemma because he is such a known quantity. Before proceeding, I make myself clear, and make a clear call to all Guyanese. Before pre-judgments and pre-meditations about pillorying the minister in the public square, let us ensure that he is treated fairly, given the fullest due process, and has an opportunity to face his accuser, if it comes to such a pass.
Now there are ministers and State agencies, like Child Protection and the Guyana Police, speaking fluently about how they are ready to help in every way possible, pursue all avenues, so that the full truth is found, and justice is done, either to the victim or to the official. I don’t know why, but I will give the Minister of Social Protection, Dr. Vindya Persaud, the benefit of sincerity and the proper priorities. In the next instance, I regret that there is reluctance to extend the same courtesy to the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, when she offered to meet with the alleged victimized child. To my chagrin, the Education Minister’s entire history has been too much of politics, too much politicking, and too much about what protects, what minimizes any exposures to, her beloved political group.
It is open to question as to whether this minister’s first priority would be – to protect the child, or to protect her comrade and her people. Too often, we have been eyewitnesses to abused Guyanese, in different scenarios, involving different PPP functionaries being the beneficiaries of what is now a set piece or structured arrangement. A citizen, usually a woman reports a violation to the police or media; there is a broadcast; there is silence; there is the passage of time; there is the retreat of the victim; and last, there is the complainant withdrawing whatever was lodged. We all live happily ever after. That is, until the next victim, and the next media frenzy. We have seen some known scoundrels and molesters, get away with assaults and batteries. From fists and guns. From foaming at the mouth, and the lascivious titillations, of which the minister making the news today has chalked up a rather remarkable record.
Given his parliamentary acoustics alone, this man should not be in the house of the people. He should be in another house, one also owned by the people. Due to the electrifying silence of the women parliamentarians on the government side in the National Assembly, their ostensibly solemn countenances and expressions of deep concern reek of the rickety, the tricky, and the sickly. I find them most unpersuasive, given their prior devotion to all for one, and one for all.
As more trickles of this matter eke their way into the public domain, it is clear that the untoward (a shabby euphemism) took place. Why was any visit necessary? How come there is what appeared to be a relationship of some kind? What about all those residents and their eyewitness testimony? This does not register well for Dharamlall but he is still due his bill of rights, and we must sober up, and see to it that he gets them. If and when he is found to have engaged in the improper, if not criminal, then he must be dealt with most harshly. Meanwhile, he should not be in any government office. And, he should be monitored as a potential risk of many features. I speak not of flight alone.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall