‘PPP in leadership turmoil’
Prime Minister: Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (Adrian Narine photo)
Prime Minister: Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (Adrian Narine photo)

– PM says party making a mockery of legal system

THERE is currently turmoil in the leadership of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has said, adding that the opposition is making a mockery of our legal system and is trying to cast aspersions on the court proceedings in Guyana.
Mr Nagamotoo was reacting to the private criminal charges laid against government ministers. The director of public prosecutions (DPP) has since dismissed two of the charges and is expected to do the same in relation to three others filed on Monday. “I have never seen such an opposition parading in such a manner before the forum of justice and trying to make our system less effective or less recognised among the world best practices for a judicial system,” Nagamootoo commented.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that the issues brought by the opposition are ones that have been ventilated by the Parliament and have forced him to question the extent of the former attorney general’s knowledge “about legal proceedings in Guyana”.
The DPP, dismissing charges against Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence and Minister of Social Cohesion Dr George Norton, stated that the charges concern a “grave issue” under the criminal law in relation to two serving ministers. It said, in the interest of good governance in the State of Guyana, such allegations should have first been reported to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for an investigation to be launched and the advice of the DPP sought. The DPP discontinued the charges under Article 187 (1) (c) of Guyana’s Constitution.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo said, “The constitution of Guyana had foreseen that they would be frivolous, vexatious and useless charges which would amount to waste of time of the court and then would amount to an abuse of the legal process. And so it has provided that the director of public prosecutions discontinues a charge whereby the DPP finds that there is no basis for such prosecution, nor had there been an investigation that would have satisfied the DPP that there is evidence upon which a trial can proceed.”

The charges against the ministers came a week after the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) brought charges against former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, and former Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL)/ Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, for illegally selling three plots of land for over GY$900M.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo described the counter-charges as a “tit-of-tat” and noted that the opposition’s actions are an attempt to undermine the legal system and question the authority of judicial officers. This, he underscored, is “a grave situation”. “So, I don’t see a chance that any of these spurious counter-charges privately filed by the PPP MPs succeeding in the court. I think the mischief that is being created by the fact that charges being filed and the Jagdeo gang is creating as a smokescreen to hide the seriousness of allegations against the former government officials, and Guyanese can see through the smokescreen, the shenanigans, and these side-shows by the opposition.” Nagamootoo also observed that there is currently turmoil among the leadership of the opposition; therefore, these charges are a massive diversion. He noted that the DPP acted in accordance with the constitution to discontinue the charges.

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