Can someone tell Clement Rohee how the world works?
April 27, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Mr. Clement Rohee must be one of the world’s longest serving Cabinet Ministers. He acquired that status since 1992. Add to that his years as a Parliamentarian and you have a person who should know a little bit (at least) of how the world works.
Unfortunately Mr. Rohee doesn’t give you that impression. He is angry at the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board for granting asylum to a married couple who accused him of threatening their lives if the husband refused his demands for hacking into the computer system of a number of opposition figures and anti-government critics.
His main accusation is that the Board simply accepted what the husband said without attempting to verify his claim. By that, Mr. Rohee meant that he, Rohee, should have been asked for an explanation.
If we follow Mr. Rohee’s logic, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board is one of the world’s most pathetic, comical and incompetent institutions. Between 2006 and 2009, the Board received an annual 30,000 requests from refugees to stay in Canada.
The figures show that roughly sixty percent of those 30,000 applications were refused (David McKie, “Database: Refugee acceptance rates by country,” CBS News, September 29, 2010. – retrieved from the internet by this columnist).
If we follow Mr Rohee’s reasoning then surely about 99 percent of those claims should get through. Let’s repeat Mr. Rohee’s accusation before we examine his inane understanding of the way the world functions.
Mr. Lall (the refugee’s name is now in the public domain courtesy of Mr. Rohee) told the Board that Mr. Rohee wanted to physically harm him. Mr. Rohee says that the man lied, therefore the Board should have investigated.
If, according to Mr. Rohee, a person appears in front of an immigration judge, he cries about dangers to his/her life, and the story is simply accepted, then how do the 18,000 applicants each year get refused?
Sadly, Clement Rohee doesn’t understand how the world operates. And this ignorance is compounded by the fact that he lives in a country where the US Embassy has an immigration investigator who historically has been a Guyanese. It is commonsensical to assume the Canadian Board cannot be that stupid just to accept a story given by a claimant. Even Mr. Rohee’s mediocre government in Guyana would not accept a tale by a Brazilian or Chinese who wants to stay in Guyana out of fear of persecution in his or her homeland.
Let us educate Mr. Rohee on how the Board does it work. The immigration lawyer (in this case, consultant, Balwant Persaud) would have presented the petition with the claimant’s description and an evaluation attached. What this means is that the lawyer would have to assess, for the judge, the state of freedom, liberties, the rule of law, democracy and the exercise of power in that particular country.
The Board investigators would then research Guyana and Mr. Rohee. This could involve confidential communication with the particular Canadian Embassy, in this case the High Commission in Kingston.
Mr. Rohee cannot be that ignorant not to know that the investigators would go to Google and punch in his name. The information would reveal that he could not secure any type of visa from the US Embassy while he was Minister of Foreign Trade. He was quoted as saying that he has too much on his plate to bother with claims of torture in Guyana.
The investigator would find that Rohee was dismissive of uncivilized prison conditions at the Brickdam Station and had exclaimed that it is not the Pegasus Hotel.
The Board researchers would also Google Guyanaobservernews.org and propagandapress.wordpress.com to see what type of sites they are. We don’t know in this case if the Board did make contact with the Young Street High Commission. If it did, the High Commission would not comment.
The Canadians, like the Americans, do not speak on immigration and visa issues even to other governments. It is quite possible that the Board investigators did communicate with the High Commission here.
I need to inform (and educate Mr. Rohee). A UG student once claimed refugee status in Canada. I received a correspondence from the Refugee Board asking me to comment on the claimant. Dr. Mark Kirton received the same letter. It was obvious that the student named us in her petition.
Mr. Rohee’s ignorance of these things was joined by his PPP colleague, Mr Harry Narine Nawbatt, our High Commissioner in Ottawa. He felt that the Board should have asked Mr. Rohee for a statement. Why would the Board do such a stupid thing?
April 27, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Mr. Clement Rohee must be one of the world’s longest serving Cabinet Ministers. He acquired that status since 1992. Add to that his years as a Parliamentarian and you have a person who should know a little bit (at least) of how the world works.
Unfortunately Mr. Rohee doesn’t give you that impression. He is angry at the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board for granting asylum to a married couple who accused him of threatening their lives if the husband refused his demands for hacking into the computer system of a number of opposition figures and anti-government critics.
His main accusation is that the Board simply accepted what the husband said without attempting to verify his claim. By that, Mr. Rohee meant that he, Rohee, should have been asked for an explanation.
If we follow Mr. Rohee’s logic, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board is one of the world’s most pathetic, comical and incompetent institutions. Between 2006 and 2009, the Board received an annual 30,000 requests from refugees to stay in Canada.
The figures show that roughly sixty percent of those 30,000 applications were refused (David McKie, “Database: Refugee acceptance rates by country,” CBS News, September 29, 2010. – retrieved from the internet by this columnist).
If we follow Mr Rohee’s reasoning then surely about 99 percent of those claims should get through. Let’s repeat Mr. Rohee’s accusation before we examine his inane understanding of the way the world functions.
Mr. Lall (the refugee’s name is now in the public domain courtesy of Mr. Rohee) told the Board that Mr. Rohee wanted to physically harm him. Mr. Rohee says that the man lied, therefore the Board should have investigated.
If, according to Mr. Rohee, a person appears in front of an immigration judge, he cries about dangers to his/her life, and the story is simply accepted, then how do the 18,000 applicants each year get refused?
Sadly, Clement Rohee doesn’t understand how the world operates. And this ignorance is compounded by the fact that he lives in a country where the US Embassy has an immigration investigator who historically has been a Guyanese. It is commonsensical to assume the Canadian Board cannot be that stupid just to accept a story given by a claimant. Even Mr. Rohee’s mediocre government in Guyana would not accept a tale by a Brazilian or Chinese who wants to stay in Guyana out of fear of persecution in his or her homeland.
Let us educate Mr. Rohee on how the Board does it work. The immigration lawyer (in this case, consultant, Balwant Persaud) would have presented the petition with the claimant’s description and an evaluation attached. What this means is that the lawyer would have to assess, for the judge, the state of freedom, liberties, the rule of law, democracy and the exercise of power in that particular country.
The Board investigators would then research Guyana and Mr. Rohee. This could involve confidential communication with the particular Canadian Embassy, in this case the High Commission in Kingston.
Mr. Rohee cannot be that ignorant not to know that the investigators would go to Google and punch in his name. The information would reveal that he could not secure any type of visa from the US Embassy while he was Minister of Foreign Trade. He was quoted as saying that he has too much on his plate to bother with claims of torture in Guyana.
The investigator would find that Rohee was dismissive of uncivilized prison conditions at the Brickdam Station and had exclaimed that it is not the Pegasus Hotel.
The Board researchers would also Google Guyanaobservernews.org and propagandapress.wordpress.com to see what type of sites they are. We don’t know in this case if the Board did make contact with the Young Street High Commission. If it did, the High Commission would not comment.
The Canadians, like the Americans, do not speak on immigration and visa issues even to other governments. It is quite possible that the Board investigators did communicate with the High Commission here.
I need to inform (and educate Mr. Rohee). A UG student once claimed refugee status in Canada. I received a correspondence from the Refugee Board asking me to comment on the claimant. Dr. Mark Kirton received the same letter. It was obvious that the student named us in her petition.
Mr. Rohee’s ignorance of these things was joined by his PPP colleague, Mr Harry Narine Nawbatt, our High Commissioner in Ottawa. He felt that the Board should have asked Mr. Rohee for a statement. Why would the Board do such a stupid thing?
