The horrible denial of the rights of Guyanese that they willingly accept
On Saturday evening, I had a discussion with Mr. Glenn Lall, the publisher of Kaieteur News, about testing some blatant official violations of citizens’ rights in Guyana. I raised the subject with Mr. Lall, because one day he was discussing an illegality perpetuated by the State itself, and he suggested that he would like to test the matter in court. He asked if I would put my name to being the plaintiff. I intend to do just that now and in the future.
There is a plethora of official infringements of citizen’s rights and the Bar Association is not in the least interested in testing these depravities in court. I was extremely upset at the mistreatment of four puppies by the Customs officials and the vet at the Eugene Correia Airport at Ogle. If the owner, Mr. Gomes, didn’t have money to fly the puppies’ mother to Ogle from Mazaruni to prove it was her pups and pay $40, 000, the puppies would have been put to death, and all because people are not prepared to take the government to court.
My first consideration is why do we need to clear Customs if we take a plane from the interior and land at Correia airport? What is the reason for that? Aren’t Guyanese allowed to move freely from one place in Guyana to the next? I studied in one province and visited another in Canada and I never had to check in at Customs. I was travelling within Canada. I did the same thing in Trinidad and Barbados. Once within the borders of each country, I moved feely from one part to another and didn’t check in at Customs after my initial arrival.
A Guyanese citizen can put his/her puppy in his/her lap, take a speedboat in Region Two and come out in Region 3 at Parika. From there they take a bus or taxi or drive their own vehicle, with puppy still in lap and drive onto the Harbour Bridge, come out at Peter’s Hall in Region 4, and motor up the Linden Highway to Region 10, then proceed back to Region 4, cross into Region 5 with puppy still in their lap, move in to Region 6 and end up at a home in Springlands, still with puppy on lap. In this long journey, unless the police pull you over for reason of suspicion, you do not have to check in at any Customs office from Region 2 where you started your journey right to where it ended in Region 6. There will be no vet to stop your car and quarantine your puppy.
Mr. Gomes is quoted by this newspaper as telling the KN reporter that the vet told him once the dogs are being transported from one Region to another, they have to be documented. The vet was named as Marlan Prince. Is this the law? Marlan Prince chose not to explain to the KN reporter if this is the law or requirement, because he refused to explain his action, informing the reporter to speak to his superiors.
Why then, if you take your pet dog from Mazaruni and fly into Region 4 at the airport in Ogle, do you have to be examined at Customs, and your pet must be seen by the vet? In the interest I took in the plight of these four puppies, I was told that Customs wanted to know if the puppies were born in Guyana. What nonsense is this?
You can pass the GRA Head Office on Camp Street with four dogs in an open back vehicle and a GRA official is not going to stop and ask you where your dogs were born. You can put four dogs in an open-back vehicle and drive past the Guyana Livestock Development Authority in Mon Repos and no vet is going to run behind your vehicle to ask you which country the animals were born in.
Why did the authorities at Ogle behave like this toward the puppies? Why did the man have to pay $40,000? Why was Mr. Prince so eager to put the pets to death? I am going to make enquiries about the legality of everything that went on at that airport. If illegalities were perpetrated on Mr. Gomes, I am going to suggest strongly he sues the Government.
Mr. Gomes came to me with his plight. Kaieteur News highlighted his plight. He needs to take his anger to its logical climax and sue Mr. Prince, Customs at the Correia airport and the Livestock Authority. I am going to insist that Mr. Gomes go this route.