After the 2011 electionsNovember 27, 2011 | By
KNews
| Filed Under
Features / Columnists
,
Freddie Kissoon
In days to come, Guyana will have a new president. Obviously, there will be personnel changes in the Ministries and Permanent Secretary positions and on State Boards. To put it simply; Guyana will have a brand new government. Whoever those people might be, there can hardly be any doubt about it – the Guyanese people want to see deep and extensive changes in some areas of life in the Republic.
There must be positive responses to these expectations. We can start with policing. The Guyana Police Force has to be reorganized. The citizenry in Guyana has enormous reservations about the GPF. In Guyana, the police are viewed as uncouth human beings who are out of control and who have little respect for the rights of citizens.
When a population can view the police as people not to be trusted, then that country is in serious trouble.
It is my opinion that most young female drivers hate traffic policemen in Guyana. They see traffic policemen as oppressive and exploitative. I have had been told of horror stories involving traffic ranks. They simply pounce on female drivers to get money from them or even sex. The next government must eradicate this cancer and if caught these rogue cops must not be spared a jail term.
Tax reform has to be a priority for the next government. Tax specialist, Christopher Ram has constantly sung the song of stopping tax evasion. The thing about Guyana is that nothing can remain a secret for too long. We are too small a population where all the big decisions, evil or virtuous, are made in Georgetown. The profligate lifestyle of the super rich is not something you have to book a flight for the interior if you want to see it.
This is a country where wealthy people buy a mere piece of precious real estate in downtown Georgetown for $500M. People put up houses costing somewhere between $100 million and $200 million. And you are forced to ask that with that kind of stupendous wealth, are these people paying their right taxes.
This writer has seen some figures on the amount some super-rich people pay to the Guyana Revenue Authority that will leave you sick in your stomach for years to come. It was the same Ram who told us that if we stop tax evasion, we don’t need to beg Norway for funds for development. I believe Ram knows what he is talking about.
The new Guyana Government has to stop the uncivilized treatment of prisoners at the Camp Street jail. In a publication last week, the Guyana Bar Association stated that the Camp Street structure has three times the population that it was originally intended to hold. This has to be a descent into primitive bestiality. I saw a little piece of the picture when I was in the Brickdam lock-ups.
My conclusion is that once you go into the Brickdam lock-ups, you are not treated as a human being any longer. I spent three days there last December so I know what I am talking about. Tea or coffee comes to you from a dirty bucket. You then take the same bucket to bathe. Breakfast comes to the prisoners in the same bucket.
There are no toilet facilities in the Brickdam lock-ups. How can the new administration after November 29, treat human beings like this? Isn’t this a violation of UN accords that the Government of Guyana signed?
All Guyanese want an immediate reorganizing of some important state institutions. These include GECOM, the Ethnic Relations Commission, the University of Guyana, the judiciary, Auditor-General’s Office, etc. These entities will never achieve their desired results if they are not underpinned by professional values and politicians have little or no say in their existence.
A new dispensation must include the complete eradication of the governmental input into the budget for GECOM and the judiciary.
It is madness to have the government which is run by persons who are politicians and who were election candidates to decide how much money GECOM must have. Not only is this insane, but it is devoid of both logic and commonsense. The Ethnic Relations Commission, GECOM, judges and the Ombudsman must be insulated from the tentacles of ruling politicians.
The Chief Justice and Chancellor are acting in their respective capacities, but at the request of the Government, Parliament approved their full salaries. If my memory serves me right, the persons in power in government are politicians who contest elections. Is it morally correct to have those same politicians determine the salary of judges?
Seems to me to be a collapse of the sacred principle of the separation of power.
Even Freddie found religion after the elections. No more cussing for Jags. This man apparently was hitting the bokkle because of Jags, and now he appears sober if not sombre.
