The State must act in a lawful manner

Apr 13, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the fears paralyzing the economy of Guyana is the possibility of Guyana reverting back to the discredited policies of the former PNC regime. One of the reasons why it is believed there is capital flight is because of the fear of Guyana returning to an all-powerful State which can be used to violate the rights of Guyanese.
There are anxieties that Guyana may be reversing in terms of democratic governance by the use and abuse of State agencies to harass citizen. The state has to remain lawful. The actions of State agents must be in conformity with the law.
The State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) recently, in the company of at least one other government agency, descended on an NDC educational facility in Enmore and seized some computers on the pretext that the computers were about to be sold to someone else. Prima facie this has all the hallmarks of abuse. The SARU is yet to establish the legal basis upon which it seized the equipment and the legal authority under which it has acted. It has not indicated how it came to the conclusion that the computers were the property of the state.
Assuming for the sake of argument that the computers were on loan and were indeed to be illegally sold, one would have thought that the better thing for SARU to do would have been to allow the transaction to go through and then arrest the relevant parties. But SARU made the arrest before the alleged offence was said to have been committed.
If the items were donated to the NDC on the condition that they should not be disposed or sold without the consent of the State, this still does not give SARU the right to seize the item. If the NDC was about to breach the terms of any agreement which it may have had with the government, then it is for the government to take civil action, not to and seize property.
If the State donates an item to a NGO, the item rightly belongs to the NGO. I do not know if the NGO is supposed to keep it indefinitely simply because it was a donation. If the item is outdated or not working, then by all right it should either be disposed of or sold. But it seems as if the government is implying that if something is given to you by either the government or an international organization that it has a lien on those items. If this is the case then there is a serious problem which needs to be brought to the attention of international organizations which support local organizations and communities.
The government must demonstrate that it has a lawful claim on the items. Otherwise its recent actions constitute an abuse of power and a deprivation of private property.
The second disturbing incident concerned the charges made by hire car drivers in Berbice who are claiming that the police have been stopping them in front of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) office in Berbice and demanding their drivers’ licenses. This is being done not to ensure that they are licensed to drive. It is being done to ensure that the NIS can register them as self-employed persons. It is most interesting that this campaign, if indeed it is true, is taking place in Berbice.
The Police have no role in helping the NIS to register persons. The police are concerned with protection – protection of the person and protection of property. The refusal of someone to register for NIS has to be prosecuted by the NIS. It is not for the police to be demanding the drivers’ licenses so as to facilitate the work of the NIS. If this is true, it is an abuse by the police which should be internationalized. The NIS should use other methods to help to ensure that all self-employed persons are registered
The NIS has no powers to stop vehicle on the roads and the police should not be stopping vehicles on the road to facilitate the NIS registering self-employed persons. The role of the police, if they must lend support to the NIS, would be to ensure that in any NIS operations the peace is not breached.
The Commissioner should investigate the charges made by the hire care drivers from Berbice. If true, this is totally unacceptable behavior. If true its raises the threat of the State being used to harass citizens.
If the state degenerates into extreme lawlessness then who knows, one day agents of the State may feel they can walk into your home and do what they want with your wife and girl children.

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The State must act in a lawful manner

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