Racism and reverse-racism

I REFER to an article published in the April 29th edition of the Kaieteur News under the caption: ‘Lawyer disbarred in U.S. gets top post in Guyana’. Reference was being made to Shaun Orville Allicock who was admitted to the Guyana Bar in 1998 and who was subsequently disbarred in the U.S. in 1999. This headline seemed designed to deceive the public into believing that the Government has committed a huge fraud. However, if you read the article you notice that no mention was made of the Guyana Bar Association.

I would like to draw the public’s attention to a reply by the Guyana Bar Association to a letter, ‘Is the Bar Association asleep?’ published in the Stabroek News (07.11.25) by M.Y. Bacchus, in which the then President of the Guyana Bar Association, Mr. Kashir A. Khan, in response wrote: “In addition to its core responsibility of advancing the interests and development of lawyers, the legal profession and the practice of law in Guyana, the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) has also a broader mandate to speak to and advocate for issues which concern the society at large especially in areas that affect social justice and the rule of law in our society, a natural consequence of our professional remit”.
Yet a lawyer disbarred in the USA since 1999 is reported to be practicing in Guyana as a partner in a law firm and even managed to land himself a top post in a statutary body. Simply amazing! It appears that the Guyana Bar Association has been in a deep slumber longer than Rip-Van-Winkle and only awoke up when Justice Rabi Sukul was appointed as a judge to the Guyana Court of Appeal.
I recall the loud condemnations by the Guyana Bar Association of Justice Rabi Sukul when the news of his disbarment hit Guyana. I recall weeks of coverage of this matter in the press. I recall Christopher Ram both personally and in his capacity as Secretary of the Guyana Bar Association pronouncing with the wisdom of the biblical Solomon. I waited patiently for a similar response in relation to Allicock. A week has passed since the disclosure in Kaieteur News. Not a word from Christopher Ram and the Bar Association and virtually no coverage by the other media houses. The hypocrisy is nauseating.
I recall when the jury tampering allegations surfaced regarding Nigel Hughes, the Attorney-General called upon the Guyana Bar Association for a response. The response of the Bar Association was an attack on the Attorney-General and as regards the allegations against Hughes; their meek comment is that it is not a matter within their “remit.” That response came from the President himself, Mr. Ronald Burch-Smith. As usual, Christopher Ram, the Secretary of the organisation remained hypocritically mute. He was quick to attack Jaya Manickchand, however, for certain statements published on Facebook.
If this is not hypocrisy and double standards, I have no doubt that racism and reverse-racism is at work. As for the press, they do not even disguise it.

FARUK MOHAMED