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From the Diaspora…Justice delayed, justice denied – the drug scandal that won’t go away

Jan 27, 2013 News

 

Dr Roger Luncheon must have a very low opinion of the intelligence of the Guyanese public. I wrote once that the good doctor has outlived his usefulness. I suggested that the doctor retire and spend the rest of his life taking care of his health and enjoy the declining years.
Take it from someone who has had heart surgery. After all when you hit sixty, it’s downhill from there. His judgment is being clouded. As the spokesperson for the Cabinet he is doing a very poor job at defending the Government. Maybe it’s because he is trying to defend the indefensible. Every time he gives an answer, he opens up more questions.
Look at his latest attempt to defend Government’s justification to give New GPC the exclusive supplier of drugs to the Government on a non competitive basis. His explanation, compared with another drug supplier, the GPC prices were more competitive. Dr. Luncheon thinks that Guyanese must be pretty stupid.
I would like to let the doctor know that whether in the Diaspora or in Guyana, Guyanese are very good at comparative shopping. What he is saying is company A (GPC’s) prices are better than company B, so you buy from company A. What he is not telling you is that company C could be cheaper than company A and B. What’s more, company D could be cheaper than all the others. But company C and D never got the opportunity bid.
Dr Luncheon must think Guyanese are really stupid. However they are not stupid as he thinks. The 2011 elections proved that. Did he ever wonder why the PPP lost Parliament? It’s because of all the corruption within the Government.
His explanation for single sourcing billions of tax payers’ dollars to the New GPC is just a load of hogwash. Enough has been written in the newspapers about the contract so there is no need for me to repeat the details. Suffice it to say that Guyanese are very aware of the improprieties surrounding that contract.
Can you imagine advancing hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money for drugs not received?
I said before that I hope that the opposition keeps pressing this issue. It reeks of fraud. When the final word is written on this episode I would hope some of the players are wearing prison stripes.
It may not happen while the PPP remains in power, because the DPP is a political hack (pardon the pun) but as we can see happening in other countries politicians are being brought to trial years after they have left office.
I can say with great certainty that if a similar situation had existed here in the United States, a lot of folks would be wearing orange suits. Fraud and Fiduciary. Yes justice may be delayed for the Guyanese taxpayers, but it will not be denied. It’s just a matter of time.
Speaking of justice delayed, I read this week of a case that was just concluded after 13 years. Yes, you read right– 13 years. Now what kind of a justice system you have that takes 13 years to finish a case? Recently at the end of an Assize session only twelve of two hundred cases were tried. Now if my math is correct it probably would take about 16 sessions to finish these cases.
If there are two sessions a year we are talking of an eight-year wait, and we are not talking of probably another 200 new cases.
President Donald Ramotar recently announced that he was appointing another eight judges. That won’t even make a dent on the back logs. Mind you we are not even talking of civil cases. The system at the moment is archaic, a hangover from the British.
What is needed is for continuous sitting of the criminal and civil courts– I mean year round, 365 days of the year. Together with more judges this kind of backlog can be erased and bring justice to those prisoners who may be languishing in prison waiting years to prove their innocence.
After all justice delayed is justice denied.

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