In the aftermath of the collapse of the rape allegation against the now resigned Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall, it is worth reviewing key developments.
First, the case was catapulted to the investigative stage by social media pages and personalities. There is nothing wrong at all with that except that the provenance and credibility of the allegations still have to be ascertained. At their shrillest point the allegations posted on social media did not rise to a credible report to the authorities as there was no convincing evidence that the complainant or her parents or guardian had lodged an official complaint with the intention to have the matter investigated and prosecuted.
This newspaper did not report any of the numbing details that were circulated on social media about the case It only reported on the matter when two ministers of government felt compelled to investigate the claim of rape and proceeded to do so. These complaints on social media, as raw and painful as many of them tend to be, cannot be taken at face value. In the face of cyberspace inventiveness and malice, they require more interrogation even while steps are taken to protect anyone who might be in imminent danger.
After the complainant was brought under the jurisdiction of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) it is unclear whether best practices were followed. At varying points it was alleged that the complainant did not have the freedom to retain private counsel and the circle of the people she could be in contact with was restricted. Furthermore, there were reports of the complainant being harangued and intimidated by the process and participants.
Notwithstanding its vast powers, the CPA has to be accountable to all stakeholders. It cannot be operated as part of an inner sanctum with no oversight. That type of arrangement could lead to all manner of abuses. The CPA should be required to produce a report on its handling of this case for submission to the Ministry of Human Services. Furthermore, the CPA Act should cater for contemporaneous oversight of investigations particularly where the risk of political interference is high as in this matter. It would be difficult under the current circumstances to insulate the CPA from government influence when it is cocooned within a ministry. The time has now come to make the CPA an autonomous agency given the many cases of child abuse that have arisen and the need to ensure it is walled off from interference of any kind.
Questions remain about whether this complainant’s case was properly handled by the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and whether the puzzling gap in arriving at a decision enabled the undermining of the case against Minister Dharamlall. Was the DPP’s position in delaying for several days prior to asking the police for a further investigation consistent with other cases before it where it has recommended that a charge of rape be brought?
As it relates to Mr Dharamlall, the Cabinet and Parliament are well rid of him. Going all the way back to 2014 when as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs he used threatening and coercive language towards Amerindian groups he exposed himself as unsuitable for a ministerial post. This was exemplified graphically in the 12th Parliament when he disgracefully uttered his dildo remark and got away without any sanctions as this government, the party, and the Speaker of the National Assembly had no intention of holding him accountable. The allegations that surfaced around the latest complainant had been made by several others before her, yet President Ali and the PPP remained unmoved. While Mr Dharamlall is gone, the questions surrounding his behaviour will continue to haunt the government. Did Mr Dharamlall engage in grooming an indigenous girl while in his official capacity as minister? Did he have inappropriate correspondence with this individual and invite her to his premises? Those are questions that President Ali should seek answers to if he wants to ensure that his administration forswears conduct that exploits children or worse.
In what the government and the PPP might have felt was the coup de grâce, a video appeared last week of the girl who made the allegation against Mr Dharamlall. In the video she exonerates Mr Dharamlall and states that others acted on their own and tried to target the minister. The girl in the video requires much support, counselling and guidance in putting this horrific ordeal behind her. There is no need to parse what she has said in the video except that in the same way she has the right to complain to the authorities she surely has a right to go beyond that. However, the authorities will not be able to explain why if no offence occurred, the complainant willingly remained under the care of the CPA for weeks, gave an affirming statement to the police, visited the premises of Mr Dharamlall as part of the police investigation of a rape complaint and then suddenly settled for a ‘No further action’ statement which had to have been suggested to her by someone within the CPA or the police force.
There was more than a whiff of infamy here and for all its avowals of upright behaviour and the requirement of adherence to the code of conduct attached to the Integrity Commission Act, it is clear that the government must take concerted steps to ensure that none of its officials end up in the lurch that Mr Dharamlall found himself in.
