Dear Editor,
I refer to the SN front page story of January 10th, titled `UK High Commis-sioner calls for election of Opposition Leader ‘without delay’’[1] – and wish to comment as follows:
High Commissioner Jane Miller, thank you so much. HC Miller and EU Ambas-sador Luca Pierantoni (SN Jan 9th) have performed their duties to the nation of Guyana very ably and responsibly. This is what the Guyanese people expect of them.
What they did is called the exercise of soft power. Speak out when the ruling party is usurping powers to trample on the Constitution. In many cases such exercise of soft powers does mighty things in making things right in small countries around the world.
Yes, I agree the Extradition Request (ER) from America complicates things, but realistically, this ER case would take at least a year to run its course all the way to the CCJ; so can this nation of Guyana keep its parliament shut down for one year? That’s ceding too much power to the ruling party; that’s also not how the Constitution is supposed to work.
There is more to this ER matter. Does the language of the Extradition Treaty say Guyana must stand down in the event of both nations (Guyana and America) having charges on the accused? Is this a case of a power dynamic playing out between a superpower and a nation of barely 3/4 million people? I don’t believe such is the case here. It is not a drug smuggling case in which all conventions will go out the window. It is simply a gold smuggling case. America has not behaved this way before in a gold smuggling case. In any event – I believe Guyana must have the right to try this case, first – on the charges Guyana had already instituted; only after the Guyana case is completed, GoG may consider extraditing the accused to America. Guyana is a Sovereign nation – and it has rights that negate the power dynamic.
We know of this legal/political precedent: Mr Ali won the 2020 elections – and all 19 charges over his head were put on hold or withdrawn. Much the same thing with candidate Donald Trump. Of course, Azruddin Mohamed did not win the presidency, he won the post of Leader of the Opposition (LOO), which is a Constitu-tional post in the Guyana Constitu-tion. Depending on the nature of the charges (not drug smuggling), his cases like Ali’s and Trump’s should also be put on hold or withdrawn.
Thank you, HC Jane Miller and Ambassador Luca Pierantoni, for lending your voices on a very pressing matter this nation of Guyana is currently dealing with. Thank you, thank you.