Guyana needs to do better than Jagdeo and Granger

Oct 25, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Justice refers to the fair and equitable treatment received by members of society.
In democratic societies, everyone carries equal standing, and no one is above the law. Justice is a consideration of man, and is generally applied by those so trained to develop societies’ laws as a means of preserving order. Guyana’s experience with our laws is that justice does not always inform the law. Two classic examples are Burnham’s interference with our Constitution to free our presidents from the authority of our courts: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2017/opinion/letters/12/06/the-constitution-needs-amendment/, and the insertion of the section which makes the income of our presidents, our nation’s most senior civil servant, and our attorney general, tax-free. Quite obviously, both instances are an affront to our sense of justice. But both of these instances of injustice we have not done enough to rectify.
In both instances, changes largely hinge on the leadership of the president. This brings Guyana’s current holder of the Office of the President, David Granger, up for closer scrutiny. All things considered, this gentleman and his administration have been engaged in such great misadventures in our political and economic affairs that these two issues have become miscellaneous, and have been gladly relegated by both Granger and his administration to the bottom of the pile
Granger’s lack of initiative on these two issues points to two larger, troubling issues that Guyanese have to grapple with. The first is that Granger himself is not seriously interested in securing Guyana from potential tyrants overtaking the Office of the President. Secondly, and even against the advice of the Tax Reform Committee (https://guyanatimesgy.com/president-ministers-should-also-pay-personal-taxes-tax-reform-committee/) to remove all tax exemptions on personal incomes, his gross indifference on his inequitable and unfair tax free status can only mean that even as he is benefitting handsomely from his salary, he resents paying these taxes, and apparently has no intention of correcting what has been an insertion by a person who formerly held his office. This latter individual was very likely the same person identified in Stabroek News on July 10, 2015,
(https://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/news/guyana/07/10/govt-passes-bill-to-cap-vulgar-ex-presidents-benefits/). The section of the article reads, ‘According to Jordan, the most recent claim for benefits cost taxpayers $7,466,700 for two first-class tickets. While Bharrat Jagdeo was not named, he is the only former president to benefit under the current Act. Jordan said “what was interesting is that the individual claimed for himself and spouse even though no spouse was named.”
I have before stated that our laws do not anymore serve the people and provide justice for all. It grants lawlessness to our presidents and ultimately their subordinates whom they can free from the law. Guyanese are left to their own recognizance, to determine justice for themselves. And with respect to who we choose to become president, we have to do a whole sight better than Granger and Jagdeo, or pawn our lives to the daily punishment exacted by them on us and our children.
Respectfully,
Craig Sylvester

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News