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Opposition calls on Govt. to end abuse of Cybercrime Act
…says law was never intended to protect “thin skinned snowflakes”
Kaieteur News – The Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Geeta Chandan-Edmond has called on the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government to end the abuse of the Cybercrime Act, as the law is now being steered in the wrong direction, to muzzle the expressions of Guyanese, in her view.
Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Geeta Chandan-Edmond
Chandan-Edmond who is also the General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), the largest faction of the Coalition party, argued that the government must not crack down on the freedom of speech, and more so, use the Guyana Police Force to “chase down” a cartoon character with the expectation of a more secure society.
She was referring to the recent arrest of an individual, suspected to be that of social media personality ‘Mudwata’ after comments were made by the alleged perpetrator, against a member of the media.
In this regard, the Member of Parliament (MP) told the National Assembly during her presentation on Thursday that since August 2, 2020, Guyanese lost “the basic indulgence of speaking their minds on social media.”
She contended, “We cannot even post on Facebook in peace, the government cyber security teams are scouting the pages of ordinary Guyanese to abuse the cybercrime act.”
Chandan-Edmond was keen to note that even though the Cybercrime law was introduced under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU +AFC) government, the law was geared toward tackling serious issues such as the sharing of nudes without permission, stopping child pornography and tracing the use of electronic devices for terrorist activities.
According to her, “the Act was not intended to chase down ‘mudwata’ and others…it was never intended to be used to protect thin skinned snowflakes in the government from emotional abuse and trauma because they are subject to public critique and ridicule.”
In this regard, the former Magistrate called on the government to stop the abuse of the Cybercrime Act.
“We want to return to the simple pleasure of posting our views, our candid views, on social media in a very candid way and in a very responsible way. As I speak, Mr. Speaker, if we take a look at social media, nobody is posting about these debates in the manner in which they did during the 2015-2020 era, they are fearful that they might emotionally abuse a member of the government. During the administration of Granger, social media was abuzz; freedom of speech was alive and it was well,” she reasoned.
Earlier this year, one of her own Opposition colleagues, Sherod Duncan was hauled before the Courts for allegedly referring to the IT Manager of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as a ‘jagabat’ and ‘trench crappo’.
According to reports, Duncan allegedly made derogatory remarks against Aneal Giddings during his ‘In the Ring’ talk show. It was reported that Giddings, a 36-year-old resident of Diamond, East Bank Demerara, filed a complaint against Duncan, in which it was alleged that the Opposition MP made a number of derogatory statements against him on January 11, 2022 during his show.
The GECOM employee has alleged that Duncan referred to him by disrespectful names, which are said to have caused significant emotional stress and humiliation.
According to Section 19:2 of the Cybercrime Act 2018, “A person commits an offence if he uses a computer system to publish or transmit electronic data that is obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to another person.”
The law stipulates that a person who commits an offence under this section is liable: on summary conviction to a fine of G$5 million dollars and to imprisonment for three years; and on conviction or indictment to a fine of G$10 million and to imprisonment for five years.
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