The opposition yesterday amplified their call for the Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharamlall to be removed from office given that he has been arrested on rape allegations.
In their second day of protest, opposition members joined by residents of Linden carried out a peaceful protest outside of the Office of the President on Vlissingen Road in Georgetown.
Following his arrest and subsequent $1 million bail, opposition supporters are pushing for detention without the option of bail until a comprehensive investigation is finished. This along with being permanently ousted and barred from holding any governmental position.
While calling on President Irfaan Ali to do the right thing, protestors questioned the silence of female ministers and government Members of Parliament saying they are yet to demonstrate their support for the complainant.
Long-time PNCR supporter, Vanessa Kissoon, who travelled with a delegation from Linden to be part of the demonstration called on the president to “do the right thing.” She stated that as a mother and teacher, she is haunted by the statement that is now in public domain.
“Mr President you are watching, Do the right thing! Do the right thing!… that young woman is crying out for help and she is crying for justice,” she said on the protest line.
Kissoon, a former Member of Parliament, explained that she and her team joined the protest because “we are here to express our hurt, our anger and we as mothers and women, we are passionate because we have daughters and we have sons.”
In this regard, she stressed that those in authority and at the top should not prey on the vulnerable, but rather, find means and ways to represent and protect the children.
Opposition member Amanza Walton-Desir, who was also involved in the protest said she does not understand why Dharamlall was released on bail as all that was said was that there was an allegation of sexual assault.
She argued that she also saw a considerable disparity in treatment between Dharamlall and Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers in October of 2020, when both Mingo and Myers were imprisoned on suspicion of committing electoral offences.
Myers, she pointed out, was forced to stay in a filthy prison cell, and both Myers and Mingo were paraded in shackles whilst Dharamlall spent no less than four hours in custody before being released on bond.
She stressed that the law is the only equalising factor and that the public should take note of these actions that all must be treated equally.
“Here you have a man who has allegedly raped and sodomized an indigenous girl, and he is put on bail and kept in custody for four hours. Now, if you are right-thinking, you have to see there is something wrong with that because all must be equal before the law. The law is the only equalising factor that we have in this country and when as Guyanese we begin to equivocate and we begin to selectively to apply the law, we as Guyanese citizens are allowing the country to slide into decline, we must stop it”, Walton-Desir added.
According to Pastor Loris Heywood, who spoke on behalf of the Christian community, in dealing with a young demographic, particularly girls, when young lives are affected as a result of the recent incident and pattern of incidents that has cause for the nation to pause, it should not be taken lightly.
He said too that the churches in Guyana have a loud voice and should not stand by idly nor silent but rather speak up against the incident.
In the wake of allegations that its minister had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl, the government has been criticized for its slothfulness in responding. It took three days after the allegations surfaced on social media for President Irfaan Ali to announce that Dharamlall will be proceeding on administrative leave. The President told Stabroek News on Sunday that, “Dharamlall ‘requested’ leave to facilitate any investigation into the allegation” and he agreed to the request. Ali did not state when the requested leave takes effect. Dharamlall has not made any public statement on the allegation but through his attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes, yesterday said he is prepared to “assist in a full investigation” of misconduct allegations.
