Dear editor,
Just when we thought it was safe to venture outside, here comes the Guyana Bar Association, slithering from under a PPP/C controlled rock with venom directed at the APNU+AFC. No surprises there. On this occasion, the mediocre LLBs came out in unsolicited defence of CCJ Judges who are far more effectual at legal defence by virtue of their superior legal standing.

And sat back we did, completely gobsmacked that this very Bharrat Association appeared to have lost their voices at critical times when provided with mountainous opportunities to reprimand their parent political party, PPP/C. Many wondered, included myself, if COVID-19 induced laryngitis had afflicted their vocal cords rendering them mute. For surely these events that played out over this past four months were impossible to miss. So desperate for divine intervention, the skies became our only hope. Hoping against hope that the discredited Bharrat Association would make those valued pronouncements on matters of national interest. But all we experience in those skies was the ultraviolet rays of the penetrating sun, burning our retinas. No Bharrat Association. No pronouncements from our legal dilettantes were forthcoming. And with their palpable absence we were left to deal with our psychological scars. Scar, which, were many.

And these scars were more painful for some but afflicted all. The Chairwoman of GECOM traumatised by daily death threats from the PPP/C. The retired judge lost her privacy as 24hrs armed police protection had to be provided. We waited and waited but no pronouncement from the Bharrat Association was forthcoming. Hell would have frozen over before their vocal cords were engaged. And yet another opportunity presented itself for their pronouncement. On this occasion the victims were the APNU+AFC Commissioners, who numbered three, were given a toxic dose of death threats from PPP/C. Snipers had to be placed on their roofs but sadly the Bharrat Association remained completely silent. The CEO of GECOM, a man made of steel as an army veteran, was also visited with death threats from PPP/C. He too needed protection to live another day but the Bharrat Association was silent. The Region Four returning officer was made the election punching bag by the PPP/C. He too required armed protection as the Bharrat Association remained mute under an unmarked rock. The PPP/C terroristic acts on the East Coast where young children and the police were attacked with many requiring hospitalisation, but that was not enough to gain the attention of the Bharrat Association. One of their fellow mediocre and equally obese LLBs made threats to two policewomen in the Ashmins building that was housing GECOM but yet again the Bharrat Association could not find their voices. During the recount at the ACCC, a PPP/C former minister allegedly assaulted a doctor trying to check his temperature but still our legal numbskulls remained invisible. Two of our Appeal Court Judges came under attack from PPP/C but silence was all we got from the Bharrat Association. But now the PPP/C has a dead on arrival case at the CCJ, the Bharrat Association awoke and come out in defence of the CCJ Judges for perceived verbal hostilities. Why?

And even as we sat in awe listening to sophisticated legal arguments emanating from the CCJ, a notable absence was our mediocre LLBs. They were rightly relegated to the dunce corner. Yes they were present but were relegated to the three groups of shame. The somnolence. The back seaters. The legal extras. For anyone with an iota of professional pride would have been concerned about the low status they have in the Caribbean. Not these cohort of political LLBs. They have accepted their role as the PPP/C political stooges. They care less about improving the standard of jurisprudence in the land of many waters. They are happy and contented to swim in their mediocrity. Guyana will forever have chicken thieves. Chicken thieves will forever need their services. Matters of the constitution are way beyond their intellectual capacities and they know that. This is a very sad state of affair. A very sad state of affair. So I pray the day will come where new breed of jurist will replace this bias and unambitious lot. This lot that continue to cause us nothing but international shame. Dr. Francis Alexis was birth in a small island with a population of approximately one hundred thousand, yet he is the region’s preeminent constitutional scholar. Who do we have to boast about? Just a collection of chicken thief lawyers. Well done the Guyana Bar Association. Well done!

Regards
Dr. Mark Devonish