Ronald Daniels raised me up; the panty thief brought me down

Dec 22, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I got to know Ronald Daniels during the long years of my libel trial. He was the assistant to Nigel Hughes. Although he was training to be a lawyer that was not what was impressive about Ronald. It was his personality and character.
My impressions were of a young man the kind this society lost the past twenty-five years and that people like Ronald Daniels would help to resuscitate. He is a quiet but committed Guyanese; committed to justice, rights and the values that hold civilization together.
On Friday afternoon I responded to an invitation from Ronald to witness his “call to the bar” in front of Judge Roxanne George-Wiltshire. His petition was presented by Mr. Hughes. I have attended a few of these “call to the bar” events but this young man’s presentation was phenomenal. It was one of the most moving speeches your ear could ever receive.
I would suggest to the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News that they contact this young lawyer immediately (he leaves for Trinidad this afternoon) and publish his speech. Young Guyanese need to listen to this delivery. It tells of the journey of a young man from a depressed economy who went from one menial job to another but the dream of being somebody in this life was the mental engine that drove him on.
At the end of his speech, he promised to dedicate his life to the cause of human rights. Do we have another Nigel Hughes, another Khemraj Ramjattan in Ronald Daniels? I hope so.
David Hinds and I left Ronald in the High Court with his family taking photographs and we went to Excellence Restaurant in Charlotte Street to eat. There we met a mutual friend, Stan Gouveia, from BOOM FM, the radio station owned by Bharrat Jagdeo’s favourite entertainment company, HITS and JAMS.
What a boring name to give a radio station –BOOM FM. I have a mental revulsion to the word “Boom.” My favourite playwright, Tennessee Williams wrote a powerful play, “The Milkman Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.” Someone decided to make a movie out of it and chose two of the greatest actors ever in films to play the lead roles – Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The director changed Williams’ title and gave it his own – BOOM.
BOOM is not one of, but the worst movie I have ever seen. It is rated as the worst movie the husband and wife team of Taylor and Burton ever acted in. It was a huge flop. The critics think it failed because of the title BOOM. When next I see Stan I will ask him why BOOM FM? Maybe Jagdeo suggested that name when he gave Hits and Jams the radio licence.
While the three of us were eating, Ronald came into the same restaurant with his family to dine. Ronald sat at our table. During our lunch, a guy rode up with his motorcycle and showed us pictures he took on his smart phone of a crowd that converged in a store on Regent Street where the police with guns in hand had arrested a teenager for stealing three panties.
I suggested he take me on his cycle and let us get to the store and pay for the items. If it was a Regent Street store then the panties may not be expensive because there are hardly any exclusive boutiques on Regent Street that sell Victoria Secret panties or designer knickers.
Stan Gouveia was laughing broadly suggesting it was Victoria Secret. My concern was that this teenager would have to spend Christmas in the Brickdam remand because there isn’t a Magistrate that is going to put her on a small bail, and most likely, given the attitudinal inscrutability of Guyana’s Magistrates, she probably would be remanded to custody.
The guy on the motorcycle said he thought that the police had already escorted her to their vehicle. What a sad day in the life of this teenager. For three panties, she may be in a cell for the holiday season. But there is a bigger picture here – the poverty that keeps growing in this country.
While we were talking about the alleged panty thief, Stan told us that there is a series of stores owned by a family and that the lunchbreak is fifteen minutes. I told Stan it was crazy but he nicely replied that it was indeed crazy but true. I know a supermarket on Sheriff Street where the legal entitlement to a day off in the working week is denied. Workers at countless business places are being cruelly exploited in really horrible ways. These employers should be jailed.

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Ronald Daniels raised me up; the panty thief brought me down

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