PM’s troubling utterances about Minister Ashni Singh’s driving accident

Mar 05, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Permit me to make two very important observations which I believe are directly related to Finance Minister Ashni Singh’s purported reckless driving, and subsequent accident. The first observation I wish to highlight is a comment made by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, when he addressed those in attendance at the road safety conference, held recently at the Guyana International Conference Center at Liliendaal.  According to a SN report, the Prime Minister said that “every police officer dealing with traffic on the road should be armed with a breathalyzer, radar gun and a firm commitment to stamp out dangerous/reckless driving.”
One may argue that the PM is right about this, but the fact is the Prime Minister is a member of the Donald Ramotar, PPP/C cabinet, where the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, also has a seat around the table. It would, therefore, be very interesting to know whether PM Hinds has ever expressed similar sentiments regarding the issue of “every police” being armed with breathalyzer and radar gun at the level of cabinet discussions, or with Mr. Rohee. If the matter was raised the PM must provide an explanation as to why traffic police continue to perform their duties without the requisite tools and equipment.
If the matter was not raised at the cabinet or with Minister Rohee, then the Prime Minister has failed to articulate a very important concern at the appropriate forum. From the Prime Minister’s comments, it appears that there is some subtle blame being placed on the police for not having the requisite tools to perform traffic duties on the roads. In this blame, there is an apparent attempt to excuse the Finance Minister’s perceptible drunk driving spree and subsequent accident. It is very suspicious that in his remarks about road safety, the PM did not think it necessary or prudent to also speak about the responsibility of road users.
I believe the PM chose not to address this very important topic because he would have brought into focus the telling actions of Minister Ashni Singh and the manner in which this minister used the road on that day of his recent accident. What the Prime Minister chose to do, instead, is to address the issue of road safety solely as a police responsibility. This, I believe, was done to take Minister Ashni Singh out of the hot seat. I, therefore, find the utterances of the Prime Minister lopsided, calculated, disingenuous and disrespectful to the intelligent men and women who attended the forum and to the larger Guyanese society. Sam Hinds should ask Rohee why the traffic cops are not armed with breathalyzers and speed guns, we know that parliament approved a hefty sum for the Ministry of Home Affairs to effectively plan for the security concerns of the nation. Ensuring that road users do not get away with traffic violations should also be in this plan.
The next disturbing revelation I wish to highlight involves the comments and actions of the Attorney General Anil Nandalall in relation to the accident involving the Minister of Finance. A few days ago the AG commented that Ashni Singh was not drunk when he crashed his vehicle into a moving car, and injured the passengers of that car. Firstly, doesn’t the Attorney General consider his role in this case to be highly unethical, if not illegal? Doesn’t this kind of action present serious conflict of interest?
The AG is being paid by taxpayers to protect the legal interest of the state. Therefore, to announce that he is the attorney for the Minister of Finance smacks at common sense, decency, and smacks at the most basic democratic principles and ethics of any modern day democracy. The fact is, this kind of lawlessness and disrespect to the people has been going on for so long that these PPP/C officials are comfortable perpetuating this kind of assault on the people. Like the PPP/C, Nandalall believes that he can simply defend the Finance Minister because he believes that the people are naïve enough to believe that his actions in this matter are acceptable.
The government also believes that it can disrespect the people in this manner because it believes that the local media have come to view these kinds of despicable actions by government officials as the norm and therefore will not expend energy to report on same. So, contemptuous actions like these will continue. Nandalall should address whether it is lawful for a motorist to commit an accident and leave the scene, rather than coming to tell us that Ashni Singh was not drunk when he ignored the red light and crashed into another motorist. Did he, Anil Nandalall conduct the breathalyzer test on Ashni Singh? We know that this was exactly the reason Ashni Singh left the scene, the plan was for the PPP/C to defend him by saying he was not inebriated at the time of the accident.
However, his photograph taken at the scene coupled with the views of the people who showed up at the scene tells a very different story. The Guyanese people are no fools, we will not accept Sam Hind’s attempt to find the traffic police solely responsible for road safety, the Prime Minister must know that every road user, including government officials, have an equal responsibility to avoid using the roads in a reckless and irresponsible manner.
We will also reject Anil Nandalall’s attempt to excuse his cabinet colleague’s actions on the road. Ashni Singh, like any other road user, must face the full extent of the law for his actions. Should the Minister of Finance be allow to escape the law the precedent will be set for others to emulate his action. The Attorney General should know better not to aid and abet or protect those who use the road in a reckless and criminal manner.
Like every other Guyanese I await to see the outcome of this matter. It would also be interesting to hear what the Guyana Bar Association, Civil Society Organizations, the Private Sector and others have to say about the Attorney General serving as counsel in this Ashni Singh purported reckless driving case. It is matters like these which help to determine whether we are managed by a democratic, autocratic or simply reckless and rogue-like regime.
Lurlene Nestor

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