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FM
Former Member

No breathalyser test for Finance Minister

  • Monday, 24 February 2014 11:33

 

Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh could be asked to return to the scene of the accident where he crashed into a taxi late Sunday night, police said.
The officer ruled out a breathalyser test to determine if Singh had been driving under the influence of alcohol, saying that almost 24 hours would have passed. A cooler was seen inside the vehicle with bottles of alcohol.
The Finance Minister aallegedly left the accident scene at Delph Avenue and Garnett Streets, Campbelville without offering assistance much to the disappointment of the taxi driver, Jaggernauth Hira, and his passenger, Parbattie Shivcharran. The driver sustained a knee injury and the woman was complaining of head and neck pain.
The police officer said the Finance Minister would be contacted and a statement taken. According to the officer, there is a specific procedure for handling incidents involving senior government officials. It includes the compilation of a report to be sent to senior police officers for advice and action if necessary. Former government minister Kellawan Lall had allegedly discharged a loaded firearm and knocked down and injured a cyclist but he was never prosecuted.
Almost one hour later, Brian Young- said to be the minister’s friend and a close associate of the government- arrived on the scene and assured the driver and the passenger that he would take care of all medical and vehicular expenses. Only Hira’s car was taken to the Kitty Police Station which is responsible for that area.
When contacted, Hira  refused to go into details and only said he was interested in a β€œreasonable settlement plan”

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PPP government officials operate as though they are above the law in Guyana. Besides their out of control stealing of state assets, the public has to suffer because of incidents such as this one and many others. Manny's son killing another road user, Ramotar's son running over Freddie's nephew and breaking his leg, Benn's son beating up his ex, Killoman Lall running over a cyclist, Kwame soliciting sex from a minor, Gunga impregnating a minor, Beri Beri raping a little girl, the pedophile pandit performing his womb cleansing on little girls, and the list goes on and on. How much longer will the Guyanese public put up with this abuse when the culprits are allowed to walk away scot free?

Mars
Originally Posted by Amral:

there is a different set of rules for the Govt ministers. Something is wrong.

If it was another country, heads would have been rolling, but Guyana being the most corrupted, it is just ducked under the carpet.

Sir, you will now know why I always refer to the PPP/C as corrupt and not only corrupt as they would seems to be like a bunch of thieves.

FM

The bane of drunk driving

February 25, 2014 | By | Filed Under Editorial 

The law is clear; avoid driving after drinking. The records would show that too many accidents, many of them fatal, were caused by drunk driving. All over the world law enforcement officers take a very serious view of this offence. In the United States there is a law that actually makes a fatality caused by a drunk driver a murder. It stemmed from a drunk driver killing a young person. The mother went the distance to get the authorities to deem such accidents a homicide and succeeded. The first person will be spending a very long time in jail, perhaps never to see the streets again. In Guyana we have had our fair share of such road deaths but the longest anyone spent in jail is four years. To add to the trauma, people do not take legal action against the perpetrator. It is as though whatever the courts decide is the end of the matter. The insurance companies try their bit but the level of insurance is so low that the companies opt for the victim to spend some money up front before chipping in. And depending on the coverage the other person has, there is a limit to how far the compensation would go. One would expect that those entrusted with upholding the law would at least adhere to the law but this is observed more in the breach. It is perhaps a case of do as I say and not as I do. Then again, it may be a case that the perpetrators may consider themselves above the law and could subvert the course of justice. There have been quite a few cases of prominent people getting off scot free because they managed to slip some money to the police who in turn would botch the investigation. Sometimes the perpetrator is so high up the social ladder that even the police are afraid to pursue their investigations. For example, there is a policeman, albeit a special constable who is crippled for the rest of his natural life. He was riding along the East Coast Demerara public road when a Government Minister knocked him down. The Minister fled the scene and his son turned up to claim that he was the driver. Nothing has come out of that matter; there was no prosecution and the victim was never even compensated. Perhaps the authorities wanted to send a message to the rest of society that only certain people need to be using the roadways. However, lesser drivers have been prosecuted out of hand. On Mash Day, in Alberttown, a police rank driving a police vehicle collided with a car driven by a woman and containing her children. The policeman failed to stop at a major road and to crown it, he was drunk. Fortunately, members of the public were on hand to raise their voices in protest. The police who turned up claimed that they had no breathalyzer so they had to take the rank to the Brickdam Police Station for testing. A relative of the victim went along so one can assume that the police could not hide the fact. It was not long after that Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh crashed into a car, this time in Campbellville. He too was drunk and he too failed to stop at the major road. He walked away from the scene without offering any help to the victims. We now want to see if he would be charged with leaving the scene of an accident, with failing to render assistance and above all, drunk driving. A member of his clique turned up at the scene to offer compensation to the point of replacing the damaged vehicle. This is a case of money talks but the law is still the law. The police should act; the victim must have her day in court. However, we doubt this very much and thus the indictment of this country and its government

Mitwah

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