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LONG OVERDUE

Mar 11, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan announced a few days ago that charges will be filed against ex-PPP officials including some ex-ministers. No one expected that it would have been of such magnitude so as to include the former present Bharrat Jagdeo. The questioning of several ex-PPP Ministers and officials came on the heels of the latest United States State Department report on human rights and alleged corruption in Guyana.
Many felt that the charges of corruption against some PPP ex-ministers were long overdue, but the Granger administration was very meticulous in its approach, And even though it took the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) almost two years to investigate wrongdoings by officials of the previous administration, one can expect some legal maneuvers to play out in the court if or when they are charged.
No case is air tight especially white collar ones which are much more difficult to prove in a court of law. However, the nation will breathe a sigh of relief as it waits for those charged with alleged corruption to be found guilty. Many in the last administration felt that they were untouchable. Calling his arrest and those of other PPP officials including ex-ministers a political witch-hunt, opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo accused the Granger administration of distracting Guyanese from the failure to develop the economy and reduce crime, among other issues. Following his release without charges, the opposition leader warned the government that if any attempts are made to undo the immunity granted to him as president, the government will face the wrath of PPP supporters from all across the country.
It was clear that the threats by the opposition leader did not change anything as SOCU continues its investigations into the corrupt practices by officials of the last administration. However, several ex-ministers, including the former Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee have characterized the government action as a dirty war disguised as a fight against corruption but is directed at the leaders of the PPP.
The leaders of the opposition have called on the diplomatic community and their supporters in the diaspora to take note of a government that has degenerated in dictatorship after being in power for only eighteen months. They claim that the government actions are lawless and represent an obnoxious and abominable exercise of authoritarian power aimed at intimidating members of the opposition from speaking out their failures.
Despite the claims by the opposition that Guyana has now entrenched into a police state and that no one is safe in the country, the investigation into corrupt practices at the Sparendam housing scheme or Pradoville Two by SOCU officials continues unabated. The government seems to be on the right path by letting the nation know that the law will eventually catch up with those who used state resources, illegally, to enrich themselves, their relatives and friends. The government has warned the nation that no one in Guyana should be allowed to be above the law, and despite the accusations by Jagdeo and others in the PPP that the government is conducting a vendetta against them, many feel that some in the last administration were highly corrupt and should be held accountable for their actions.
However the government has stated that SOCU is an independent entity and that the opposition is delusional to believe that the administration is directing a dirty war against them. Nonetheless, the Government has reaffirmed its position that the assets of the state belong to the people of Guyana and under no circumstances will it condone or overlook any action which results in the improper, illegal or unjust distribution of same. Those arrests are justified.

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