Banks DIH, John Fernandes Ltd, and the Chancellor of the Judiciary 

Oct 17, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – The ubiquity of oil money is so strong in Guyana that its impact is greater than the explosion of any destructive volcano. The exhilaration of the nation of Guyana is that this land now has resources that could give it a sustainable, successful future it never had.

But does wealth translate into civilised existence? A look at the United States of America answers that question. A powerful country whose wealth is unimaginable is one of the world’s most sociologically fragile countries.

The US is sitting on a sociological volcano whose explosion could set it back by hundreds of years. The US elected a president who is viewed worldwide as not alright mentally.

The US has some lawmakers whose extremism mirrors the rhetoric of Nazi Germany. The US almost had a violent putsch in which an elected government could have been overthrown. The wealth of the US has not created a peaceful, stable, equal society. Political thinkers are expressing fear that the US can suffer a terrible political implosion.

Can oil wealth make Guyana a sociologically and philosophically stable country where the rule of law and wealth distribution are admirable features? The answer is no and India is the counter-argument.

India’s poverty is unimaginable. India does not have the wealth of the US. But it is a philosophically successful society. In India, no company or institution or cricket team or Bollywood studio can insult the third ranking federal police officer in the entire country and civil society, political society, academia, the media and the country in general would accept it. It is quite possible that company may end up in court.

I saw with my own two eyes how a business company treated the third highest ranking police officer in Guyana. It was at Banks DIH. He visited the company to issue an instruction for them to remove illegally placed cones on a stretch of public parapet that is almost a third of a mile. I was there with the Traffic Chief and his senior rank.

The officials of Banks DIH refused to meet with him. He stood at the gate and after half an hour of waiting he left. As soon as he drove away, Banks DIH, in addition to the cones, cemented permanent no-parking signs into the ground on a long, long stretch of public parapet.

That is the kind of action that is characteristic of a banana republic. There could have been no deeper manifestation of what a banana republic is than what Banks DIH did. And Banks DIH remains untouched by the law. See my column of   Thursday, August 18, 2022, “What Banks DIH did to me and the Traffic Chief,”

Will oil wealth stop the kinds of behaviour associated with what Banks DIH did? Now read on. Dr. Walter Ramsahoye sued me for libel. While announcing his libel with CN Sharma on channel 11, Ramsahoye made disparaging remarks about me that was so scandalous that I thought this was the worse form of barefaced behaviour I had ever seen in my life.

So I counter-sued Ramsahoye. The two libel writs were heard at the same time. Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes heard Ramsahoye’s writ. Justice Yonette-Cummings Edwards, the current chancellor, heard my writ. Justice Barnes ruled for Ramsahoye and awarded him two million dollars.

My hearing was concluded at the same time and it is going on to seven years now and Justice Cummings-Edwards is still to give judgement. In simple terms, the rule of law in Guyana determines that citizens are not equal before the law.

And it is obvious to Madam Chancellor that I am not worthy of receiving her judgement. My lawyer has moved on and I have moved on but thoughts of Guyana being a banana republic swirls around my mind when I think of these two cases. See my column of Sunday, May 8, 2022, “Chancellor of the Judiciary and the syndrome: Maybe, maybe not.”

Finally, the John Fernandes Ltd. (JFL) land scandal. It was on Christmas Day in 2021 that the news broke that JFL had bought 143 acres of land from the Beterverwagting NDC at $250,000 per acre. After this horrible land-grabbing was revealed, JFL backed down.

From December 25, unto this day, no one in the African community came out against the NDC selling African ancestral land for a song. I did an analysis of this hypocrisy among African leaders. See my column of Wednesday, February 16, 2021.

I am referred to as an Indian racist by some African propagandists yet no one among African leaders except an Indian man since last February, denounced what JFL and the NDC have done. To buy an acre of land for $250,000 makes Guyana a banana republic.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

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