WE are missing the point: Glenn Lall has committed a crime. I implore people to read Act No 21 of 2008 – Interception of Communications Act 2008.It is clearly spelt out in the laws of Guyana that all acted in a most illegal manner. No one is allowed to record or tape citizens’ private communication, except three officers (Commissioner of Police; Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority; and Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force) and these must first apply to a judge, for a 90-day warrant to do so.
Inherent in this article is the seriousness of what took place, when there was the breach of the “Interception of Communications Act” (as only a selected group of people can do so, but only after strict court permission).
This is where matters digressed and many issues were either taken out of context or blown out of proportion.
I visit two instances: firstly, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) on its call for the resignation or removal of Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, over the contents of a recorded conversation, interpreted as threats against the Kaieteur News; and secondly, the International Press Institute (IPI) and its urging of Government to make it clear that violence against the press will not be tolerated.
What is very immoral and skewed is that both TIGI and IPI are ignoring the horrible truth that Lall committed a crime. This is very disturbing and it strikes at the very fabric of civilised society that must protect the privacy of citizens, with Guyana’s being no exception.
The law unambiguously and emphatically states that “a person who intentionally intercepts a communication, in the course of its transmission, by means of a telecommunication system, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five million dollars and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years”.
This is the crux of the matter, and Lall is at the very epicentre of this grave criminality.
As fate would have it, these defenders of Lall have been embarrassed and exposed, as the very unbecoming intentions that they are tagging at the AG’s feet have been manifested in the Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Khemraj Ramjattan and Lall.
First a senior reporter attached to the National Communications Network (NCN) was verbally abused by Ramjattan.
Ramjattan, in an allegedly expletive-laden tirade, refused to respond to a query, over his promise to lodge a formal complaint with the Police on the alleged “buy-out” by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), of three Members of Parliament (MPs).
Ramjattan was hostile when posed with this query.
Then on November 1, Lall verbally abused a reporter attached to the ‘Guyana Times.’
So I am compelled to ask IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi to re-examine her outburst that “the Government of Guyana should focus now on making it clear that violence against the press will not be tolerated.”
Trionfi and cohort need to inform Ramjattan and Lall, as regards the severity and implications of their aggressive actions.
I remind the public about what happened early last year to the former Italian Prime Minister; he was found guilty of arranging for a 2006 Police ‘wiretap’ of a political rival, Piero Fassino, and then having the secret transcript leaked to his brother’s newspaper. Is not this a Lall scenario?
Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in jail for these illegal wiretaps. His partner in crime, his brother, Paolo Berlusconi, was sentenced to two years and three months. The court also ordered Silvio and Paolo Berlusconi to pay 80,000 euros in damages to Fassino, the targeted political opponent.
I call on TIGI and IPI to get real – they need to be purged of their prejudices.

RAMOS PAUL