Clement Rohee is not qualified to administer a law Enforcement Agency

Jun 24, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
Please permit me to respond to the Minister of Home Affairs’ attempt to use me as an excuse for his dictatorial over-reaching in the operations of Law Enforcement in Guyana.
The problem, as anyone with a modicum of intelligence will have discerned by now, is that Clement Rohee is not qualified to administer a law Enforcement Agency, and is only in that position because of his political and ethnic affiliation. George Bernard Shaw opined that quote, “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”
I surmise he probably had someone of Clement Rohee’s disposition in mind when he coined that observation.
Imagine if you will, a Minister of Home Affairs who responded to a question about the torturing of citizens with the quip that Guyanese are more interested in Christmas barrels than torture, attempting to convince this populace that he has an interest in the rule of law in Guyana.
Apparently, according to the perspective shaped by his political experience, the rule of law is pliable, subjective, and applicable only on his say so. Is it any wonder therefore that Law Enforcement in our nation is in the deplorable state it is.
Mr. Editor, the stability of nations are not threatened by citizens who agitate for democracy, for the rule of law, for due process and the presumption of innocence, for equality under the law regardless of race, position or status.
The stability of nations is threatened when the political servants of the people apportion unto themselves powers of majesty, powers of monarchy, and wield them as though the nation is their personal fiefdom. The stability of societies is threatened when those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that justice is not only done, it manifestly appears to be done, morph their responsibility into a campaign that targets “just us”.
Nothing in Mr Rohee’s tenure as Minister of Home Affairs provides evidence that his purpose and policies represent anything other than a partisan political agenda to use Law Enforcement to suppress and intimidate the voices of those who refuse to be silent in the face of the atrocities that have become endemic in our nation. But I will not be silent. My ancestors, from the enslaved and the indentured, have already paid the cost for me to have my say.
Mr. Editor there is a letter in your newspaper of 06/22/2013, coming from a member of Law Enforcement, who probably requested anonymity because of a history of the Minister of Home Affairs’ revenge actions against those who dare to challenge his hegemony.
In this letter, complaints are laid that the Minister intercedes in the firearm licensing process to the benefit of people who are unqualified to own and carry firearms. That he uses his office to discriminate who gets to go overseas on training trips.
That he boorishly threatens and coerce Police Officers into doing things his way. Given these and other glaring evidence of the Minister’s obvious disdain for the rule of law and the professional operations of Law Enforcement, I will argue that when it comes to the potential for instability in our nation, there is no greater cause for concern than the lack of professionalism being exhibited by the Minister of Home Affairs in the discharge of his administrative functions, and the collateral damage being extrapolated across the nation as a consequence.
Finally, let me assure the Minister that I will not be intimidated by his veiled threats and “cry wolf” alarms. Guyana has had a history over the past several years of political intimidation and violence against those who do not carry water for the regime, or willingly peddle its propaganda.
The world is watching, and I would advise the international community to pay keen attention to what has transpired in Guyana, and what is transpiring today. I am keenly aware of the fate of Ronald Waddell, and the evidence revealed in a Federal Court in Brooklyn about the fact and circumstances surrounding his assassination.
That international community cannot continue to extol the virtues of democracy while exhibiting selective amnesia to hundreds murdered in vigilante and other politically motivated killings in Guyana. Guyanese have as much right as Libyans, Syrians, Palestinians or Egyptians to have their concerns and existence occupy the attention of the international community.
Mark A. Benschop
Political/Social Activist

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Clement Rohee is not qualified to administer a law Enforcement Agency

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