Why no commissioner of inquiry into the Roger Khan mayhem?

Sep 15, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Just the other day I was in a conversation with a PNC supporter, I mean a “die-hard” supporter one who would stifle his conscience probably he’ll do so until Jesus comes. This is the kind of character I am talking about. However, I thought that our discussion/argument or what you might call it, would have taken our usual trend of a pitbull fight with him holding on to his position and I holding on to mine, but that was not the case, surprisingly it petered out into a tame low keyed acceptance of “Boy you know you right.”
First on our agenda was his story of having hard times as a taxi driver, “things not moving man things bad” he said I quickly responded sarcastically why things aren’t flowing, why, we are supposed to be basking in the sunshine of your government’s “good life.” Well he responded “the drugs money that used to flow during the PPP time not flowing again, things dry up.” Now this is one of the many “top of the line” burning issues this present PNC Led Coalition rode into town on, the idea that the PPP/C’s so called success in power was largely due to its support and active involvement with the drugs trade, specific reference to Roger Khan.
So, one would have thought that at its commencement of office an imminent COI would have been called whereby the PPP and all its top brasses would either have been named and shamed or sitting in jail, the latter being the preferred option of the regime. Why wasn’t a COI called on the Roger Khan issue? Why! It is not like this is an 18th Century Phenomenon that we have to delve into the history books and carry out very many cross referencing to find out who the culprits are? These are occurrences that took place a little over a decade ago, so why isn’t The Granger Government not eager to get to the “truth”? Interesting!
Why isn’t the government not in any haste to bring all matters of Khan’s drug contacts to light? Why? Interestingly enough that is not the case, what we see is a total shutdown of news and information on that matter, but only when the administration is cornered with the successes of the PPP/C is this matter of “drugs money success” comes up for dishonourable mention. As their usual rhetoric would resonate ‘is the drugs money of Roger Khan did run this country yeh.” So if that so called drugs money did run this country, one would expected a full fledged COI would have been first on their cards, but this is not the case. What obtains is a series of wasteful spending on matters that makes for a pantomime show.
We are into the third year of this “Lean, clean, transparent and good life Granger Government,” and for that time period we have seen several hastily put together, frivolous, COI’s of which the government have expended tens of millions of dollars, but not one on the Roger Khan Issue.
Very little or no real results have been the outcome of many of these COI’s, so why are they still making mention of “the drugs money” when none of these inquiries would have been carried out on Khan? Why can’t we get reasonable closure on the Roger Khan matter? This leads us to the conclusion that this government is all fluff and no substance, that PPP’s involvement in the drugs trade was a fat lie. Mind you this was one of the sore points in their election campaign, a promise made to the people of this country that remains unfulfilled.
Well, like I said in my opening paragraph, my friend quickly threw up the white flag in defeat and calmly said “boy you right you know.” I responded I am always right, even while operating with less than 10% of brain power. The government continue on this expensive campaign giving excuses after excuses on its poor performance in office whilst Guyana sinks to a point of no return.
Everton Adams

1 thoughts on “Why no commissioner of inquiry into the Roger Khan mayhem?”

Dr Nat Khublall September 15, 2017 at 3:38 am

A few good points have been made in this letter one of which is “The government continue on this expensive campaign giving excuses after excuses on its poor performance in office whilst Guyana sinks to a point of no return.” But I fail to see how drugs money ran the PPP/C government, having regard to this point: ” the idea that the PPP/C’s so called success in power was largely due to its support and active involvement with the drugs trade, specific reference to Roger Khan.”
No direct tax would have been paid on income earned from the illegal drugs trade. Its likely that if very large sums were earned from drugs, the money would have been sent abroad. However, those who spent such income on consumer items and building materials would have paid some tax indirectly.
Instead of setting up a COI regarding the drugs trade during the PPP regime, the police should have carried out a thorough investigation of those suspected in involvement in any drugs trade. Involvement in illegal drugs trade is a crime and falls within the police investigative authority and should be dealt with as such as is done in many other countries.
Setting up a COI in most cases is a waste of time, expensive and it is unlikely there will follow any prosecution of the culprits. The sitting president has failed miserably to publish the report of the Rodney COI. The President set up a COI on an alleged attempt to assassinate him. Why were the police not involved in a thorough investigation and criminal prosecution by the DPP if enough evidence was found? In my opinion, this COI was not warranted. The President does not seem to have a clue as to what should be given priority. A COI should only be used very rarely and for the most important matters.