The government of Guyana on Tuesday strongly rejected allegations peddled by the Alliance For Change (AFC) that is was engaging in illegal wiretapping and was recording the conversations of politicians in the country.
The AFC had premised its allegations on a comment made by the Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali as it called for a full disclosure on all of the instances where the conversations of politicians and citizens were intercepted.
Ali had strongly upbraided that party’s leader Khemraj Ramjattan for disrespecting and verbally abusing a public servant in his office who invited him to a discourse to clarify some distorted statements carried in the media about the East Bank Development Project.
Verbal attack
The minister had said that he was “hoping” to see if soliciting support from Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) was possible to further compel the AFC politician to apologise publicly to the public official whom he verbally attacked. Ali on Monday strongly rejected the charges levied against him by the AFC as he accused the leadership of the party of creating smokescreens, dodging to address the issues raised and seeking to create distractions through lies and misconceptions.
Questioned by media operatives at his post-Cabinet press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said that there was no merit in the positions taken by the party while opining that they appear largely to be unworthy of any in-depth response from his office.
Unfathomable assertions
He could not at that time understand the rationale behind the statements made by the party and its leaders, describing them as “unlikely and unfathomable assertions”.
“I want to reassure him, if that is indeed possible, that his fears generally should be disregarded and that he has very little basis or none whatsoever for even thinking that the government of Guyana and the telecommunication service providers would engage in unauthorised wiretapping of his phone or any Guyanese (phone).”
Asked by Guyana Times International whether government or any of its agents were engaged in authorised wiretapping of the phones of politicians or citizens, he delivered a stern answer: “I can speak authentically, since the enactment and the commencement order and say none.”
The Cabinet secretary has also admitted the focus of the legislation and wiretapping continues to be exclusively utilised in the fight against crime and criminality. He insisted that the legislation is only operationalised when dealing with the investigation of crime. “I continue to offer all Guyanese, the assurance that any wiretapping that is done in Guyana fully subscribes with the legal framework,” he reiterated.
Dr Luncheon did not divulge any critical security information as how many times the legislation was utilised as part of crime investigating measures.
AFC offensive
The AFC went on the offensive on Monday after the housing minister drew first blood by exposing the alleged lack of ethics in the party. Ali apart from calling for a public apology for the disrespect shown to his staff; exposed the kind of response delivered by Ramjattan who aspires to be president of Guyana when invited to a meeting to discuss matters of public importance.
