THE JURY SYSTEM HAS FAILED GUYANA


In early June last year I wrote an article entitled ‘Abolish Jury Trials.’ I argued then, and repeat those arguments now, that jury trials ought to be abolished because convictions are now rarely obtained from juries even in the most glaring cases. The Attorney General and several criminal lawyers disagreed with my suggestion and views.

I believe that on the scale of things, trial by jury is not an issue of paramount concern to most people. But crime is escalating and juries have continued to free the most violent criminals in the face of compelling evidence. I have not kept any figures and no statistics are published but I would not be surprised if less than five persons have been convicted in the last twenty trials. And it is not all because of faulty police investigations or incompetent prosecution.

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AMAILA FAILED BECAUSE PUBLIC RELATIONS WERE IGNORED


An uncharted situation faced the new government after the 2011 elections. Having decided to go it alone as a minority government, a plan for governance designed to create some consensus was expected to unfold. An unstructured tripartite committee was announced but it lost credibility because the government refused to have serious consultations on the 2012 budget, the AFC was left out of the discussions relating to the Linden electricity issue and has thereafter refused to participate in discussions because of alleged Government recalcitrance on other matters. No structure to generate  trust and confidence existed by the time Amaila came around.

In an effort to convince the Opposition and critics on Amaila, discussions took place with President Ramotar and Minister Ashni Singh. Mr. Winston Brassington and his advisers also had discussions with critics. Documents were handed over. The chief public spokespersons for the government defending the project and answering critics were President Ramotar and Minister Singh, although others, including Mr. Brassington weighed in occasionally. There was no organized public information campaign or effort to supplement, expand and define on a daily basis what they had to say. On the other hand, the Opposition and other critics were in the media every day.

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NOTES ON POST-CONGRESS EVENTS


The recent Congress of the PPP concluded just as was predicted by me in a recent article (“The PPP’s 30th Congress). There were lots of applause, the Central Committee Report was adopted unanimously, poor organizational work was declared to be responsible for the 2011 electoral defeat, the Opposition and some other ‘enemies’ were identified and vilified (myself and Moses Nagamootoo) and a new Central Committee was elected without any headline catching result.

An atmosphere was established which appeared to rule out any new initiatives to break the political deadlock. Even if a more structured mode of conversation with the Opposition had been proposed, it is difficult to see how that could be accomplished or produce any results after the Opposition was accused of ‘criminal’ and ‘terrorist’ conduct.

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LAND TITLING: CORRECTING ‘HISTORICAL PROBLEMS.’


Two weeks ago a Government team led by the President Ramotar visited Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice. This area is populated by descendants of indentured labourers and has a substantial land problem. The President described it thus: “…historic problems which has (sic) been in the making for a long time whereby lands were given out to people and some of them sold out but no title was passed to them while some died out and some migrated and in the meantime, over the years, it was festering and beginning to cause some problems in the community itself.”

The President announced the Government’s decision to resolve the problems of the community. Under the Land Registry Act the area would be declared a “registration area.” When this is done the parcels of land occupied would be surveyed. The President announced that the Government will allocate the sum of $46 million for the survey. Upon completion of the survey the Land Court will then receive applications for title, hold sittings at which evidence of occupation will be taken and ownership granted.

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THE AFC’S POSITION ON AMAILA WAS POLITICALLY ASTUTE


The Alliance For Change (AFC) made its position on Amaila known from the outset. It said that it would rely on the outcome of the IDB’s assessment in order to determine whether or not to support the project. The AFC joined others in expressing its concerns but when confronted with Sithe Global’s position that unless there was full Opposition support for the legislation, it would terminate its interest, the AFC quite consistently decided that it would vote to let the project live until the crucial IDB report was available.

It’s Chairman’s professional association with Sithe Global that may have complicated the situation for the AFC.  The criticisms of the AFC appear to suggest that it opportunistically voted for the legislation at the behest of its Chairman. But in fact the AFC was maintaining its consistency and credibility while protecting its electoral and political interests.

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