Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Ramjattan wants sedition kept on the books
(From left) AFC Parliamentarians Audwin Rutherford, Khemraj Ramjattan, Catherine Hughes and David Patterson.
…Ramjattan questions if removal of murder will be next
Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan says he is leading the charge to keep sedition laws in place, despite calls from civil society for its removal.
In recent weeks, there has been growing criticism of the Cybercrime Bill (2016) which includes in Clause 18 (1) the offense of sedition. Opponents of the clause have argued that sedition threatens freedom of expression and has no place in modern society. They have suggested that Guyana adopt England’s approach by removing it from the law books.
“Unless we want to now do a major overhaul of our Criminal Offences Act like the English people did and then they abolished sedition, then fine. I am leading the charge in relation to maintaining it in our books,” Ramjattan told reporters at an AFC press conference.
He provided the reason why sedition is needed, by pointing to an example where rogue elements have undertaken annexation and they start placing it on the press, internet and Facebook.
“I don’t have a charge if I abolish this thing [sedition]? It is not as if we are going to affect freedom of expression,” Ramjattan stated.
He was told by the media that the most recent charges of sedition were against three activists who were not in that category. Ramjattan was quick to point out that this was done under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and again the media asked if the AFC would support the removal of sedition.
Ramjattan replied, “Do we abolish murder now… you do a couple of things on the internet and you can conspire, aid and abet through the use of the internet to murder somebody?”
The three activists charged with sedition, included the late Ronald Waddell, former army officer Oliver Hinckson, and Mark Benschop.
In a letter published by Kaieteur News, Benschop expressed hope that President David Granger will “swiftly exercise political wisdom, and have his Attorney General remove the dreaded clause before it comes back to haunt his administration, and supporters in the future”.
Shortly before Ramjattan fielded questions about sedition, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman, who has publicly objected to the inclusion of the clause in the Bill, left the room and returned towards the end of the press conference.
Ramjattan assured that the controversial Bill allows for criticisms of the Government and its Ministers without sedition occurring. However, he said that sedition will apply where someone has undertaken actions to cause civil strife, disorder and violence via utterances.
“Sedition is a good tool to have in an executive branch, because sedition is an offence that goes to the heart of civil strife in your country and people publishing letters and all of that to ensure that there is civil disorder and it is part of the American law and most Commonwealth , although it has been abolished in England.
However, he noted that in England, the Civil Disorder Act has incorporated many of the sedition-related elements .
The AFC is the smaller of the two factions in the coalition Government which tabled the Bill in 2016. The party had three of its members – including Ramjattan – that formed part of a bi-partisan Parliamentary Special Select Committee which reviewed the Bill. AFC MPs Audwin Rutherford and Michael Carrington were also part of the committee.
The sedition Clause survived the review, but shortly after public outcry, the PPP called for its removal from the Bill, citing that its MPs had dropped the ball.
“The concerns now coming means that we will have to take a second look at that wording,” Ramjattan noted.
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