‘Remove Dharamlall from public office’

Feb 11, 2022 News

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– MPs, women’s rights activist call for dismissal of government minister over ‘Dildo’ remark

Kaieteur News – Commissioner on the Women and Gender Equality Commission, Ms. Nicole Cole has called for Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall to be removed from public office, deeming his “Is a dildo you want” remark to a female Member of Parliament on Wednesday as sexual harassment and abuse.
Cole made these comments during an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News on Thursday, one day after Opposition MP, Sherod Duncan was immediately suspended from the National Assembly, for defending his female colleague against derogatory comments made by Dharamlall, who only recently publicly called for the defrocking of the Chancellor of the Judiciary and another Appeal Court Judge because they ruled against his government in an election petition matter.
During the consideration of the budget estimates of Region Five on Wednesday, Dharamlall told one of the opposition’s females MPs: “Is a dildo you want, that is what you looking for”. Later into the consideration, the Minister then launched a further attack on the MP saying “…that same young lady, that honourable Natasha Singh, sorry a relatively elder looking member…” as he responded to a question asked by another MP.
Opposition Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan then chimed in calling Dharamlall a “nasty fella” which was disallowed by the House Speaker, Manzoor Nadir, who requested Duncan to take his seat. Duncan shouted in response, “I will not take my seat! I will not withdraw,” as he continued heckling the Minister, adding too that “the Speaker is condoning you all of the time”.
The Speaker then called on the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira to move a motion for Duncan to be suspended for the next four sittings, which was eventually allowed. “Mr. Speaker, based on the behaviour of the member and disrespect to you as the Speaker of this House, I move that the honourable member, who is not speaking from his seat, he is not in his chair that he be suspended from the house for the next four sittings,” Teixeira stated.
On this premise, the Women’s activist said that sexual harassment is a crime and the “unparliamentary behaviour” of the Minister is indicative of what is taking place in Guyana. While she vehemently criticised the words of Dharamlall, she was keen to note that the same minister only recently called for the “defrocking” of two female judges, after their rulings were not aligned in his Party’s favour.
“This is the same man who, when the judges ruled, called for their defrocking and look at the language he used, then when he was called out by the Bar Association he was forced to say sorry,” Cole argued. “He is a serial abuser. He is unfit to lead! He should not be in the National Assembly. Since then he was supposed to be gone. This attacking and abusing women then issuing an apology is to give him a free pass and what is really at play here is deep rooted patriarchy,” the Women’s Rights Commissioner concluded.
Furthermore, she said, “His party, if they had the inkling of any type of feelings for women should immediately ask him to vacate his office. He is unfit to lead. He should no longer hold public office. So in other words he should no longer be in the House”.
It must be noted that after Dharamlall made the “dildo” comments, he posted an apology on his social media page. Explaining that he was merely responding to “incessant insults” by Duncan. According to the Minister, “On many occasions, the MPs on the government side have been ridiculed with some of the most uncouth and slanderous things about their bodies, their spouses, their children, their sexuality and even their dead relatives. Some of the chief culprits in the heckling crowd of APNU+AFC include MPs Sherod Duncan, Coretta Mc Donald and Natasha Singh-Lewis”.
He said too, “my heckle regarding a dildo was aimed at verbal excesses of MP Sherod Duncan… to those offended by my comment I am truly sorry. That is the truth”.
Cole is however adamant that the Minister’s apology only added more damage.
“There is no amount of provocation that warrants the abuse that he did. It is sexual harassment in the workplace. How do people survive in a country where the members of parliament are being openly abused and then they are given a slap on the wrist? That is what the apology is meant to do, to give him a free pass. He got no real sanction. If he is sanctioned like how they sanctioned Sherod then he would not want to carry on with this behaviour… that’s no apology. You come out to say that you are sorry but you are blaming somebody for being provoked? That is not taking responsibility. That is puerile, infantile and downright despicable…you shouldn’t even be where you are because you can’t even take responsibility for the words that come out your own mouth,” Cole contended.
While condemning the behaviour of the Minister, she also turned her attention to the House Speaker, whom she says did not act impartially during the latest ruckus in the National Assembly. “The Speaker is not impartial. By his very action, you know, he would have said that he is impartial but he is not. He is partial, he is biased, duplicitous and deceitful to the very faith that he holds,” she said.
Cole reasoned that Mr. Nadir “who is supposed to be a Muslim brother” allowed his sister, wearing a hijab in the House, to be “slaughtered” in his presence.
She then turned her attention to the government MPs who defended Dharamlall. “Imagine a Lawyer runs out to say nothing is wrong with that. We have a Bishop, a man of the Church who runs out to say there is nothing wrong with that,” she debated.
As a consequence, the Women’s Rights Activist said that not only should the minister be relieved of his duties, but the Opposition should also take it a step further by informing Guyana’s international partners. She reasoned, “Guyana does not exist in a vacuum, we sign international laws and I want them (Opposition) to write the Commonwealth and all the international partners on this abuse, because it will happen again. What is being allowed will happen again because patriarchy supports violence against women. It is their weapon. It is how they keep power”. In addition to this, Cole called on the Women and Gender Equality Commission to publicly denounce the abuse against the MP, in like manner when MP Priya Manickchand claimed she was abused in the National Assembly.
Opposition wants sanctions for Dharamlall
Meanwhile, on Thursday the Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones dispatched a letter to the House Speaker urging that Duncan’s suspension be reviewed and sanctions be considered instead for the Local Government Minister. “You may recall on review and there is enough video footage to support this, that the suspension was done while in the Committee of Supply instead of the larger National Assembly. Giving the sanctity of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Guyana, we feel this error must be corrected for the record,” Jones told the Speaker. Government yesterday corrected the error and a fresh motion was moved and passed for Duncan to be suspended.
Jones also added in his letter: “We also note your decision to suspend Member of Parliament Sherod Duncan but find it interesting that the same level of sanction has not been applied to the Minister Nigel Dharamlall who is on public record as uttering while on the floor, one of the vilest comments that could be directed to any female member of Parliament anywhere in the world”. Concluding that the Minister’s behaviour was “totally unacceptable” Jones requested that the same level of censorship be applied to Dharamlall.

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