Dharamlall must be sacked – protesters

Jun 20, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Calling for a fair and independent investigation to be conducted, some members of the Opposition and civil society on Monday held a protest action over the rape allegations leveled against Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall by a 16-year-old Indigenous girl.

The protest was held yesterday around noon in front the minister’s Fort Street, Kingston office. Dharamlall has since told President Irfaan Ali that he will be proceeding on administrative leave to facilitate an investigation into the matter, but the protesters want him to be fired. Dharamlall has since requested administrative leave and was granted same by President Ali.

In a statement on Monday, the Hughes Fields and Stoby law firm said it has been retained by Dharamlall. “The allegations of misconduct by Minister Nigel Dharamlall which first surfaced in social media last week now appear to have attracted the attention of the Guyana Police Force and the Child Care and Protection Agency. Mr. Dharamlall has retained the services of a firm of Attorneys at Law to represent him and protect his interests. Mr. Dharamlall remains willing and disposed to assist in a full investigation of the matter. All the allegations are denied. In the interest of a fair investigation and the necessity to protect the interests of all parties concerned, we urge that speculation, wild accusations, pre mature judgments and unsupported conclusions be avoided. Until further advised by his Attorneys, no further statements will be issued by or on behalf of Mr. Dharamlall,” the statement from the law firm read.

Meanwhile, speaking briefly with the media on Monday, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) and Shadow Minister for Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Roysdale Forde when asked about the role of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on the matter, Forde said that his expectation of the Police Force is that they would conduct a fair and proper investigation. “We all live in Guyana; we know at times that the Guyana Police Force does not reach our expectations. I believe that this is a fitting case where the President (Irfaan Ali) must immediately institute an appointment by someone or team of investigators who don’t reside in Guyana that they would conduct a fair investigation. The Guyanese people don’t have any confidence in the Guyana Police Force that they would be able to conduct a fair investigation. We see up to now that the government itself has simply been responding to a request by Nigel Dharamlall to proceed on administrative leave, we see that this is a fitting case for Mr. Dharamlall to be dismissed at this point,” he said.

Shadow Minister for Public Security Geeta Chandan-Edmond in her comments yesterday said that Dharamlall proceeding on leave is a step in the right direction. “It is a step in the right direction for the minister involved in this to be on administration leave, pending an investigation into the allegation so it is a step in the right direction. We are here to stand in solidarity with the victim and other victims because the information that we are receiving is that this is not his first victim but more than one victim. So we are here to stand in support of the victims and we trust that the investigation will be fair and unbiased,” she mentioned.

At the protest, former Minister Simona Broomes said that the allegation “leveled against Dharamlall warrant him to do the right thing and resign and leave public office. Nowhere in the world or Caribbean such allegations will be leveled against any sitting minister of government and one with responsibilities for communities where you deal with these Indigenous girls and women at large and you still sitting down in office.” The former minister said also that she stands in solidarity with the victim. Referring to Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud’s statement on the matter that “no one is above the law”, Broomes said the law should apply to the rich and powerful as it is applied to the poor.

A representative from the non-profit organisation – Eagles Empowered to Soar, yesterday said that she thinks such a situation should not be taken lightly and that the public should come out and support each other on issues such as these. “I think that this situation is not to taken too lightly, I believe from the inception where an accusation was made, the minister should have been sent off rather than waiting on him to request leave. And I believe that these kind of matters should not be taken lightly anymore, Guyanese should come out and we should support each other on these kinds of issue and all the kind of issue that we are having,” the representative commented.

Another Opposition MP, Natasha Singh-Lewis mentioned that she is a mother of three of girls and particularly a mother of a 16-year-old. She stated that when she read the young girl’s statement and what she went through at the hands of a public figure and a policy maker of this country, she became “enraged”. “Nobody, let alone a child, should be subjected to that kind of behaviour. In this country, for our public officials, there is a code of conduct that governs their office. Dharamlall has breached that code of conduct on a number of occasions,” she said. The protest which lasted for an hour continues today between 12 noon to 1pm.

Kaieteur News had reported that in a letter to the President, the teen girl shared gruesome details about how she was allegedly groomed and later raped by the minister. In her letter, she pleaded with President Ali, the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand and relevant authorities to look into the matter. According to the letter seen by this publication, the girl first met the minister at an event last year, when she was 15-years-old. She said she was raped three months after meeting the minister and at that time, she was 16-years-old. She disclosed in the letter that after continuously harassing her to meet up with him, she eventually agreed to meet the minister. The teen said this is when the minister raped her, sodomized her before handing her a sum of money.  Notably, Kaieteur News was reliably informed that this is not the first time such an allegation was made against the minister in question.

Since the allegations surfaced, calls have been mounted for President Irfaan Ali to send the minister on administrative leave. The President spoke to multiple media houses, confirming that he was aware of the allegations made against Minister Dharamlall but clarified that he did not receive the letter in question. However, he assured that no one will be held unaccountable.

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• 16 years, Government Minister, investigation, Opposition members, protest, rape allegations

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