OPINION: Melissa Atwell saga: the basis of those reasonable grounds would help

Last Updated on Saturday, 21 September 2024, 9:50 by Denis Chabrol

by GHK Lall

First, I thank the honorable Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall.  His office shared the high-level background that prompted a search of the home of people related to known PPP Government critic, Ms. Melissa Atwell.  The probable presence of narcotics was the reason, and there were reasonable grounds, pursuant to the law.  Before proceeding, thanks Mr. AG.  Also, Ms. Atwell and her folks have an army of lawyers to defend her rights, so any advocacy on my part in that direction would be unnecessary.  Nevertheless, my fair idea of who Ms. Atwell is, and what she has engaged in, compels me as a citizen to register where I stand on what developed at Lot 86 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara, a few days hence.

According to the carefully crafted release from the AG’s Chambers, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had ‘reasonable grounds’ for the search, which we learn was very well executed.  There was “scrupulous compliance” in walking a straight line by the GPF visitors and searchers.  Encouraging, I say.  But on what basis, I now politely inquire were these reasonable grounds arrived at so firmly, so urgently?  It is said that part of the oxygen of good police work is intelligence, often human and, in today’s world, those of an electronic variety.  How did Ms. Atwell’s people’s home come under the radar of official scrutiny?  Was it a combination of information received from a trusted confidential source and GPF physical and technological surveillance?  I am positive beyond reversal that a man of AG Nandlall’s higher learning and unlimited acumen will agree that ‘reasonable grounds’ and what underpinned such is the key to this still unraveling set of circumstances.  I would hope, Mr. General, that it was not solely on what was garnered via whispers and hints from those who would benefit from selling what may not be reasonable in the least, what could be roguish to the extreme.  Further, General Nandlall, if it is human intelligence serving as the backbone of the ‘reasonable grounds’ for the search, that it is a real person and not a made-up one.  A man with the long and profound legal mind of Mr. Nandlall should be familiar with the high regard that confidential informants are viewed.  If he doesn’t, I refer him to the US Justice Department, with which he should have more than passing acquaintance.

Now, if it is not human intelligence that led to the search for narcotics in Ms. Atwell’s family’s residence, then did electronic surveillance furnish the substance that rushed the GPF to the magistracy for a search warrant?  As an aside, there is always a helpful one to sign on the dotted line when the shove of circumstances so demand.  Now, if it is wireless surveillance (spying) results that led to the GPF turning up at 86 BB Eccles, my concern is how did that come about?  Are these people known drug presences?  Do they reportedly cavort with druggies and workers and masterminds of that subculture?  Are they, via reasonable grounds, users or transporters or sellers or stockers or safekeepers of the stuff?  I think that these are all questions that have considerable weight, each aspect of each question.  Leveraging the 86 BB Eccles saga, could somebody, any scumbag or sleazeball, inform the GPF and/or the AG that I am to be watched, or worse?  Must I follow-through on PPP Government spying on citizens like me?  I will assist AG Anil with why these inquiries all have high importance to Guyanese.  They are to me.  And for one simple reason, AG Nandlall: law-abiding Guyanese should not have to watch their backs against a PPP Government and its arms and the resourcefulness of each?  I already am, and I don’t like what I see, what I recognize coming from government quarters.  Yesterday, it was Melissa Atwell’s relations, and even though she is in America, developments in Guyana showed her who is in charge, who could still tamper with her equanimity.  Who could be so favored next?

The little that I know about Ms. Atwell is that she is a PPP Government exposer and a PPP Government damager.  What happened to her people, if unjustified, could happen to others, who sometimes are too troublesome for their own good.  If AG Nandlall is interested, I could present him with a dossier of my experiences at the hands of his beloved PPP brothers and sisters.  One of the latter was brought down by the Yanks.  The broader canvas terminates at a simple concern: what priced criticism and objection and conscience in this democratic republic?  It is eerie and unsettling that the GPF is so skilled, so zealous, so committed to duty when the targets of its energetic professionalism are those who cross the PPP Government’s path.  It is inspiring when serious matters are pursued to the bottom, and those falling foul of the law are hauled away in the paddy wagon aka Blue Angel.  But, Mr. AG, the only people allegedly breaking Guyana’s laws cannot be only those who criticize or embarrass the PPP Government and its leaders.  What is revealing is how all those who did wrong but had the right political association showed the GPF at its best.  Stonewalling.  Dissembling.  Lateraling to the DPP’s office.  Then back, then starting over….

AG Nandlall’s people spoke brightly about ‘reasonable grounds.’  The foundations of that reasoning should shed some light, Mr. AG.