To be our brother’s keepers should be converted from rhetoric to action

May 16, 2008 Letters

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Dear Editor,
For those who continue to dismiss the claim that there is, undoubtedly, rampant discrimination and victimization rippling through our Dear Land of Guyana, I only ask them to look at the situation of the Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen.
If the government and the President’s action in this matter do not amount to glaring discrimination and victimization, then I ask what does.
After uprooting one of the most senior officers of the courts from her office, and placing her on an unjustified, protracted leave, amounting to now four years, without any formal complaint made against her, is not only vindictive but is also dangerously wicked.
It is clear that the President and Government will do anything to ensure that the line delineating the executive branch of government from that of the judiciary remains blurred, in so far as the PPP/C remains in office.
In recent speeches the President clearly, intimated that he can have no confidence in the court system once he is not in control of same, so he lashed out at Judges and appeared to ridicule the court to nothing but an ineffective system which does not work for Guyanese.
The fact is that the President throws tantrums when he does not get his way. He knows that there are those in the judiciary that he may get to submit to his and the government’s whims and fancy, so the idea might be to target those who will not “buckle” under political pressure.
So, charges of misconduct and other demeaning allegations will be trumped up against these professionals. The dilemma of the Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, is a good example of this plot.
The revelations, as disgusting as they may be, made by the Chief Magistrate, may not be surprising to most Guyanese, who have seen all the symptoms of a repressive regime and may find no difficulty to identify actions of same. What the revelation did, however, is to remind us that these regimes do not relent in their pursuit to advance their cause unless we stand-up and challenge them.
The analogy here is that after four, long years of suppressing the Chief Magistrate, despite there is no case of misconduct against her, the government’s pledge to continue to, as the President would put it, “teach her a lesson” remains unswerving.
Holder-Allen has demonstrated that despite her ability to serve in the court system has been unconscionably and unreasonably affected, her courage, passion and desire to take on the collective establishment has become even stronger.
Her mission to vindicate herself should totally reinvigorate in us that passion to live up to the true ideal of a strong people who will not be crushed mentally, despite the overwhelming propaganda scheme aimed at diminishing our “will power”.
The specific case of the Chief Magistrate should serve as an additional reason for protest, the revelations of her near encounter with several incidents of planned death is frightening, and is indicative of the fact that we are targets in our own land.
It would be interesting to see how the Bar Association, Guyana Human Rights Association, political organisations, and all the various facets of civil society respond to the Chief Magistrate’s revelations. Will they support her in her noble and respected fight to rid political oppression or will they leave her to “battle her own canoe” as the quest to end her legal career remains? While remaining neutral, on the issue of neutrality, permit me to quote from renowned world Leader Bishop Desmond Tutu who had this to say on neutrality: “If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has his foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
I think that the time for us to each be our brother’s and sister’s keepers should be converted from, simply, rhetoric to action. While this immediate situation may be directed at the Honourable Holder-Allen, it has rippling effects on all Guyana. As the saying goes “today fuh me tomorrow fuh you”. More than that, should the establishment defeat Holder-Allen, their psychological warfare will be emboldened, resulting in another catastrophic blow for all of Guyana.
It is unbelievable that at a time when the back-log of cases in the court system is overwhelming that the Government and President would find it comforting to have the Chief Magistrate out of the system for four years.
How can the President and the Minister of Home Affairs have the gumption to lambaste the Judiciary for wrong decision, no decision, slowness in the system etc, when their, own, action or inaction creates a fertile environment for a dysfunctional court system to emerge?
While the President wants us to think that he is not involved, in this matter he has the burden to prove he is not.
We are setting a dangerous precedent in Guyana which will not bode well for women in our society, especially professional women. I call on all women’s organisations to embrace the Chief Magistrate in her quest for justice.
An attack on this woman of high social standing should be seen as an attack on every woman.
May God help us.
Lurlene Nestor

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