Why does the President have to review gun licence refusal?

Nov 05, 2015 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If I were to research a topic for a daily column on the failure of Guyana and take the commentary right up to May 26, 2016, the day of the 50th anniversary of Independence, there still will be countless areas of horrible backwardness not covered. And why is this so? Because this country defies logic. Maybe it just does not exist.
I was jogging in the park yesterday when this businessman came up to me and showed me a response he got from the Police Commissioner three weeks ago on his request to update his firearm. The Commissioner’s reply contains the following words, “Sect. 18(9) of the Firearm Act, Chap. 1605 states, ‘Any person aggrieved by a refusal of the prescribing officer to grant him licence (sic) under this section may appeal by petition in writing to the President whose decision will be final.”
This fellow had applied in 2013 for the upgrade but was turned down by Commissioner Leroy Brummel. So it doesn’t matter how long your request was refused. Once refused, the deus ex machina is the President. The gentleman I met in the National Park was turned down in 2013. So in 2015 he has to take his case to the President. Would it not be correct to say that it doesn’t matter when the refusal was made? Once made, the next step is the President’s desk. This is bureaucratic nonsense. Suppose when the upgrade was first turned down, the businessman hadn’t the range of business he is now engaged in. Is it not possible that with the passage of time and more investments, his case is more plausible than when he first applied?
What an amazing country. The President himself has to examine a citizen’s request for firearm upgrade if the initial application is turned down. And according to the Commissioner’s letter that I have, you have to go to the President too if your request for a firearm itself is rejected. Are you telling me from the refusal of the presiding officer there is isn’t an official or a body between the first stage and the President’s decision that can review the appeal? The answer is that there is none thus the Commissioner’s letter. Why burden the President of a country with reading an appeal from citizens who want to upgrade their guns. Think of the agenda of the President.
The President runs the affairs of state. Where is he going to get the time to look at a letter from a citizen who wants a better gun? Here is a quote from my September 5, 2015 column: “The room was told that Chamber members asked President Granger for a review of two rejections. The review was granted yet three months after the APNU-AFC came to power there is no communication on the outcome.” That quote is about gun applicant rejection. It had to go to President Granger. But could you blame the President if after three months he hasn’t replied? The gentleman is truly busy with pressing matters of state. Venezuela has an active claim on Guyana. The economy isn’t in a Usain Bolt mode. Crime has become morbidly ubiquitous.
Why with such a heavy load, can the President truly devote time and mental energy on such issues as approving a firearm upgrade if the Police Commissioner refuses? Why not an appeal board within the Police Force? Then after that, there is recourse to a review panel compromising senior police officials and representatives from the Public Security Minister. The nightmarish dimension in this situation is that the average Junior Minister is always busy. The Senior Ministers are busier. The Vice-Presidents have less time than the first two categories.
Naturally, why do you expect the President to be less busy than those three categories of policy-makers? If Guyana is paying big money for quality Ministers, what do these Ministers do when a simple rejection of a firearm application or a simple rejection for a gun upgrade has to reach the President’s desk once the person wants to make an appeal.
Am I surprised that this is Guyana after 50 years of Independence? What I am sure about is that if I get grandchildren, I know that if in turn they get grandchildren, they will live in Guyana and that firearm law will be the same. Nothing changes in this psychologically barren land. The last holiday I took was in 1998 in Wakenaam where my wife has her roots. When the 50th anniversary celebrations start, I may find it hard to live in Guyana knowing who and what Guyana is. I will be taking another holiday. This time in Timbuktu.

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Why does the President have to review gun licence refusal?

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