Ministry of Home Affairs PS response leaves more questions than answers

Apr 28, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

In the statement by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (“Mae Thomas sets the record straight,” NR, April 26, 2023), the PS is reported as saying, “There was a misunderstanding over my official cell phone without me being able to advise my officials.” What really does this mean? Equally bad was the President’s response, as stated in the article, ‘No motive; was normal procedure’ – Ali on PS’ treatment at US airport (iNews, April 26, 2023). Neither the statement from the PS nor statements from the President will enlighten anyone. President Ali told reporters that the matter is “no issue” for the Government of Guyana. The Government should know that all Guyana is glued to this story and want to know the truth. The Guyanese people also know not to trust public pronouncements and they can detect easily when Government folks are less than truthful and covering up.

So given all the commentaries on social media and the Guyana media, here are some questions the people want to know:

Was the China trip personal, PPP party or Government’s business? If it’s PPP party business, is that allowable under Public Service rules and ethics? Who paid for the delegation to go?

If personal, did the PS use a “diplomatic passport” or a personal passport?

If Guyana’s business, what Guyana Government business was the PS going to do in China? What was the topic of the training she was allegedly attending? What was the length of time for the training? Who else were in the delegation for training?

Is it true or not true that the PS was braced against the wall, handcuffed, and phone confiscated, as was reported? If so, the Government, women’s groups, GHRA, IPADA-G, and Civil Society must protest such disrespectful treatment of our Afro-Guyanese PS, who seems to be such a nice lady. Hope there was no racial profiling here. Mr. President, it is not normal to brace people against the wall, handcuff them, take away their phone and then revoke their visa, as part of “secondary screening.” This is not a routine practice by US Customs. Why is your Government not protesting against such shabby treatment meted out against a top official in a key Ministry, travelling in an official capacity?

The PS phone probably contains sensitive Guyana Government information. Is the Government not worried about such information being compromised, and presents a security of data problems for the Government?

Was the PS on some “US Watch List?” If so, what list and why? Did Government know she was on a watch list?

What was the alleged questioning for 3 hours all about? What type of questions were they asking for such a long time?

Did information found in the phone, led to revocation of the visa?

There are pictures circulating allegedly showing the PS, husband and a member of a family whose visas were revoked by the US. Does this have anything to do with the PS visa being revoked?

The US does not revoke visas willy-nilly, so what was the compelling reason why they did that in this case?

Will the phone be returned to the Government of Guyana? Does the US action set a bad precedence for other countries to do the same to Guyanese officials? Can the US take away our Vice President’s phone too when he travels, given the Su-Su interviews?

The US Ambassador to Guyana is buddy buddy with the Government and is with them all over the place in and out of Guyana, so how come the Government did not get timely briefing from the honorable Ambassador? No loyalty for such chumminess?

Is the US Embassy spying on Guyanese and Government officials? Why? Who else will be held up and handcuffed? Just recently, the United Nations issued a rare rebuke of the United States after reports that those leaked documents allegedly revealed the US was spying on the Secretary-General and other high ranking UN officials (CNN, April 18, 2023). A New York Times article, “Leaked Documents Reveal Depth of U.S. Spy Efforts and Russia’s Military Struggles” (NYT, April 8, 2023) also shows that U.S. intelligence services are eavesdropping on important allies such as Korea and Israel and even some Ukraine’s leaders. The Government needs to come clean on this matter and show the country it believes in transparency, accountability, and clean Government. Credibility is lost when Government is in apparent cover-up mode.

Sincerely,

M. Singh

Guyana, M. Singh, Mae Thomas, Ministry of Home Affairs, Permanent Secretary

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Ministry of Home Affairs PS response leaves more questions than answers

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