Let the investigations begin

Feb 09, 2012 Editorial

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The law states that there should be an inquest for every unnatural death. However, this is observed more in the breach. The reasons offered have varied from being unable to find witnesses to there being an inadequate number of magistrates.
The law is the law and there should be no excuses. If there is an inadequate number of magistrates then the state must provide them. One excuse is that there are lawyers in private practice who refuse to accept appointments to serve the magistracy.
But this could be corrected. Every year the University of Guyana churns out people who have attained the Bachelor’s of Law Degree. Many of these do not go on to the Hugh Wooding Law School because of the high cost and because they simply cannot find the funds. And those who do return to put up a shingle but in Guyana there is only so many people who would make it in private practice.
There was a time when the Guyana Government offered scholarships for study at Hugh Wooding. Why some of these were never appointed to the magistracy is still an unknown quantity. Indeed, there is a stipulation for appointment to the magistracy but this could be amended because the law is suffering.
We have had cases of inquests being started but not being completed. And the society does not clamour because for the most part the people have grown immune to incomplete inquests. During the crime wave of 2002-2008 there are reports that nearly three hundred people were slain. There were no inquests for many. Not even the killing of the infamous Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins attracted an inquest. The nation would never know the circumstances under which he met his demise.
The courts apart, we often hear about there being an investigation. The reports of corruption in the state sector have been innumerable. In cases where there was hard evidence the state announced an investigation but sadly the nation was none the wiser if there was any.
The late Dr Cheddi Jagan was uncertain about some of the contracts entered into by his predecessor administration. He spoke of revisiting these contracts by way of investigations. In the case of the investigation into the contract that led to the establishment of Barama Timber Company, there was an investigation but Dr. Jagan was hesitant about releasing his findings and nobody pressed.
It was the same with the Omai Gold Mine contract. There was an investigation and again the opposition political parties had to move to Parliament to obtain the results.
But there have been many others. There were promises of investigations into frauds at Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil); these promises were followed by a wall of silence. There were investigations or supposed investigations into shoddy construction works.  Again, the nation was none the wiser.
When the former Minister of Local Government was accused of discharging a loaded firearm in a manner dangerous to the society, the then President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that there would be an investigation. A long while after, the police announced that they had completed their investigations. That report is still to be made public. What we do know is that one of the victims contended that he was never questioned.
There was also said to be an investigation into a road accident that left a policeman severely hobbled. Again the centre of this investigation was Minister Kellawan Lall. And yet again the nation is unaware of the findings except to say that some Government official reported that the investigation cleared Minister Lall.
We now have the failed contract that Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall undertook. The media had conducted extensive investigations and had concluded that Motilall was incapable of undertaking such a contract. The government admitted that it did no due diligence but it awarded a contract worth US$15.4 million to Motilall. There should be an investigation into the contract but there will be none unless the opposition parties in Parliament push real hard.
Two years ago after a spate of maternal deaths, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon announced that a special committee had been set up to investigate these deaths. Months later the word was that there were nurses and other administrators in the health system who were unable to provide the records. The bottom line is that the investigation collapsed. What resulted was a special committee to monitor the hospitals and collect medical reports every month.
Is this happening? We do not know. Perhaps it is because we do not ask. There is no Office of the Ombudsman, no Public Service Tribunal, and the list of investigative bodies goes on.
If the society is to develop, there must be some oversight.

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