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Swallowing one’s words

Aug 17, 2010 Editorial

Some things defy solutions. Some even defy logic. This past week some statements were attributed to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, but the Minister denied ever uttering such statements. Denials by Government officials are nothing new. They are often made when those statements run counter to party policy or to Government sentiments.
For example, Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall was heard to say that he wished for an epidemic in the city because the city council would then have to quit. Indeed, for a long time now the government was not happy that most of the members of the council were not supporters or members of the ruling party.
Had it not been for recorders and television cameras, Minister Lall might have denied ever making such a statement. But there were records and he could not. Instead, two of his colleagues contended that his statement was made in jest. The Government News Agency reported that the Minister was misquoted.
For his part, Minister Lall said that his comments were taken out of context, although he could not say how this could have happened when the records had him down pat.
Minister Rohee was reported as saying that the drug trade was endemic and that the proceeds had invaded the economy. His ran counter to statements by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who repeatedly challenged reports by sections of the international community that the drug trade contributed as much as forty per cent to the economy.
He said that there was no way this could be the case, because the figures just do not support such a charge. He argued that the western world wanted to place Guyana in the ranks of major drug trafficking countries when this was not the case.
But what Minister Rohee was quoted as articulating were statements made by one of his predecessors—the then Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira. She, at a public forum, had said that the drug trade was pervasive and that many big businesses resulted from drug money. She then called on the rest of the society to refrain from buying from these people. A few days later, an American diplomat made similar comments.
So here is the Home Affairs Ministry reporting that Minister Rohee had made similar comments. They made for good reading and they spoke of the concerns of a Minister who wanted his country to recognize the realities of the drug trade and its impact.
One day later, Minister Rohee denies the statements released by his Ministry. He promised an investigation. In his book, someone inside his Ministry was a saboteur and wanted to threaten his very livelihood.
We know that there need not be much of an investigation. All Minister Rohee had to find out was who dispatched the e-mail. Not many people in the office would send out official mail to the media. Having ascertained that, he might have needed to see who produced the statement. And not too many people would write speeches for the Minister.
Assuming that the Minister spoke from notes, his rapporteur would have used a recorder to compile that report. Finally, there were those people to whom he delivered the speech. Certainly they would know what the Minister said.
It is here that we in Guyana have a problem. Prominent people these days are easily cowed. They behave like the people who lived in the city where the emperor went about naked but got them to admit that he was clothed in the finest raiment. They pretend that whatever the Minister says is the truth.
For their part, the media appear to be equally gullible. The Minister says that he never uttered the statement and they duly report that. They do not follow the trail and the matter dies a natural death. The Minister will never release the finding of his investigation and it will be a case of all’s well that ends well. Minister Rohee will apologise to President Jagdeo for any faux pas and promise never to make that mistake again. Life will go on.

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