H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – Nigel Hughes as Counsel

Jun 24, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – Guyana has now transformed into a place of endless surprises, calculations, moves, and countermoves.  There are the startling developments involving Minister of Local Government, Mr. Nigel Dharamlall.  Matters became even more startling over his choice of counsel to carry him through some of the choppiest waters imaginable.  I note that noted Guyanese attorney-at-law, Mr. Nigel Hughes, has been called upon by Mr. Dharamlall to stand by his side, as he gears up for whatever legal troubles may be heading in his direction.

If there is one thing to be said, it is that Mr. Dharamlall has done right, that his choice of Counsel Hughes is a wise one.  He could not have done better, and gives himself a fighting chance should the worst fall on his head.  Yet, like most things in this country, even the most innocuous looking, there are some sharp teeth in this surprising selection of an advocate.  Counsel did extremely well in setting a standard about how we must not let politics consume us to the point of toxic madness.  By accepting Mr. Dharmalall as a client, Mr. Hughes gave us a glimpse of how we must rise above politics, fulfill our personal and professional canon of ethics, and do our duty as citizens.

With that said, I must now point to the fangs and jaws that await Counsel Hughes.  Given that politics in Guyana is so tightly entwined into the minister’s matters at every rung, at every turn, there are other kinds of considerations at work, which may work mostly to the disadvantage of Mr. Hughes in the long run.  Where possibly all in the PPP battery of politically ambitious lawyers shrunk from being near to client Dharamalall, so radioactive he had become the bold and audacious Nigel Hughes shrugged and greeted Dharamlall as he stepped forward.

The first thing I say is that Minister Nigel Dharamlall is very close to Guyana’s all-powerful Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.  It is a relationship that has more value than a fleet of fully loaded oil tankers.  This goes a considerable distance in explaining the charmed life that Minister Dharmalall has enjoyed as part of the PPP Government’s ruling machinery.  I put this differently, it is that no matter the egregious nature of what Minister Dharamlall does, he can do no wrong.  After all, he has the biggest, loudest, strongest presence in his corner of the local political ring.

As this relates to Nigel Dharamlall and his reaching to Nigel Hughes, one cannot help but to be impressed by the Bharrat Jagdeo linkage, and the possible machinations already in motion. For sure, there is every interest in getting Minister Dharamlall prized free from any vise of the law and court, and this explains the announcement of Mr. Hughes as legal representative.  But, as I see this decision, it is the sum of the underpinnings that Vice President Jagdeo believes could be to his benefit.

In the event that charges are laid against Dharmalall, and Hughes puts on display his usual legal artistry, then there is the better than above average odds that any charges laid could all be washed away to nothing.  In other words, Nigel Dharamlall is exonerated, and Nigel Hughes chalks up another scintillating legal triumph.  Mr. Dharamlall walks free, Mr. Hughes collects his fee, and everybody moves on past a disturbing sequence of events.  In the larger context of Guyana, it is where Vice President Jagdeo takes this court result, how he excels in making clever use of it, that reveals another layer of how politics operates in this country, and how there may be none better at travelling along its dark alleys than Bharrat Jagdeo.

It could be that brother Jagdeo takes a court victory for his protégé Dharamlall and makes the fullest use of it in Indigenous communities.  He would have the many proofs of the PPP Government doing the right thing, but an Opposition affiliated lawyer (Hughes) being responsible for springing Dharamlall free from the jaws of justice.  In other words: ‘ah yuh see is who get he off.’  By way of quick but related digression, recent showings in the just concluded Local Government Elections, made clear that the Indigenous vote takes on an even more commanding presence in the upcoming 2025 general and regional elections.  With the stakes being as high as they are, no leadership move is too low, no political manipulation is too off the wall, so as not to be reaped for all that it is worth. As I said, this is where the Vice President is among the best around, if not the best.

Intriguingly, immediately following the news of Mr. Dharamlall’s decision, and Mr. Hughes acceptance, floods of vehement criticism came hurtling down on the head of Hughes from Opposition supporters.  I think that Nigel Hughes responded the only way that he could, and for which he should be given the highest marks.  Now the probes and the pushing for an edge intensify.  The baton is in the hands of the office of the DPP.  What will this office do?  Full stop?  Or full speed ahead?  Though the heavens may fall, let justice prevail.

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

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• calculations, GHK Lall, H@rd Truths, Minister of Local Government, Mr. Nigel Dharamlall

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