The poor and powerless get no justice in Guyana

Aug 07, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

As soon as it was announced that there will be a travel ban on UG graduates who defaulted on loan repayments, those affected took to the national media and social media to denounce it. One prominent lawyer used harsh adjectives to describe the Government’s attitude, and was unsparing in her criticism of President Granger. You cannot blame such people. They are defending their interests.
President Granger told the media that the ban is not supported by law. I hope the President knows that many things his government and his party do are not supported by law. If you check the laws relating to local government you will see that the APNU-AFC municipal regime in Georgetown commits frequent violations of the constitution. I wonder if it is legal to stop my access to the roads that are adjacent to Parliament, which the government does for each session of Parliament.
This restriction of travel becomes more egregious when you think it was the President’s party in Parliament in 2012 that introduced a motion to remove the barriers around Parliament and the President himself, when he was opposition leader, voted for the motion, which was passed. The barriers are still there, extended to even more adjacent streets. I have learnt a very important concept in law when in 1995 I sought an injunction to stop UG from admitting law students until the applications came before the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
The judge at the time is now the current Ombudsman. UG hired a high-powered team – Rex Mc Kay and Keith Massiah. At that time, Anil Nandlall was a good friend; he agreed to do the case for me pro bono. McKay and Massiah argued that I had no “locus standi,” meaning I was not an affected party; I was not a law applicant. Nandlall contended I had locus standi because I was a member of the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
I got the injunction. It is because of locus standi, I haven’t taken the State to court over my right to use the streets that border Parliament. A judge will say that I live in Turkeyen, therefore my residential and employment access is not hindered. Coming Thursday night from Kaieteur News, I had to detour because the mountainous barriers stretch out their steely bodies straight into the night skies for the clouds to kiss.
The business community defends its interests every day of every year. If there is a tax on anything that affects the business community, they quickly denounce it. The Government moved urgently to settle out of court with one of the country’s richest men, B.K Tiwarie. The sum he will receive is huge. I guess B. K. has a right to claim monies owed to him. Ask this very administration that moved with supersonic haste to pay Tiwarie if it showed the same urgency in paying the small contractors it owes for construction materials supplied to the D’Urban Park project.
Several ministries are still to pay small businesses that are owed for different types of services supplied to the public sector. BK Tiwarie is paid, but the Theatre Guild is yet to receive monies owed. Minister Roopnaraine made a public statement to the effect that he will bring up the issue of compensation for my contract termination at UG which the Ombudsman’s legal advice ruled was illegal. That was almost eight months ago. Of course I am not in the same category with Tiwarie. Tiwarie has money. Money talks. Money entices the politically powerful.
The poor in this country will go on to be trampled, because the poor and powerless is a self-destructive class. They vote for their own slave-masters as the basketball icon, Charles Barkley subtly alluded to. In the local government elections, Patricia-Chase Green won her seat by a landslide. If the poor aren’t self-destructive, they are damn moronic. Days ago, it was in the news that a container-truck crushed the head of a young boy on Avenue of the Republic at a time of the night when the City Hall restrictions prevent such vehicles from being on the roadways.
City Council announced five months ago, they would enforce the by-laws. They have not. Those container-trucks belong to the wealthy class. In the meantime, sand-truck owners are still prevented from using the roadways after 6 a.m. This is sickening class injustice. Here is a line from the famous Broadway musical and film, “Jesus Christ Superstar,”
“Surely, you’re not saying
We have the resources
To save the poor from their lot
They will be poor always
Pathetically struggling
Look at the good things you’ve got”

3 thoughts on “The poor and powerless get no justice in Guyana”

Devil's advocate August 7, 2016 at 6:18 am

“Ditto!”
Complacency is the pillow of poor Guyanese comfort.
Ding Dong August 7, 2016 at 2:41 pm

In all fairness, Dr. Abiola Inniss gave an holistic representation of the situation of Guyanese graduates as relates to available jobs, and their ability to repay student loans. A democracy is only as strong as citizens make it.
19CAGriffith48 August 7, 2016 at 10:19 pm

Bad Time to Be Poor – by the Rheostatics

It is a bad time to be poor, cause ‘they’ don’t give a chit no more.
If you want to go for help, don’t go next door.
The line’s been drawn and staked outside.

I see to trying to lay the blame on the folks in charge,
who hide in shame for growing up with an open purse,
and learning not about being alive.

Haven’t I done enough to burn out?
Haven’t I been there to help out?

It is a bad time to be young.
What’s left to us can’t be undone without it riding on our backs
when young and poor go hand in hand.
It is a bad time to be poor.

Haven’t I done enough to burn out?
Haven’t I been there to help out?

It is a bad time to be poor, and feeling winter
through a crack in the door.