Nigel Dharamlall, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s member who resigned as a minister amidst a rape scandal last year, ranked number 6 at his party’s Central Committee Elections last week.
His ascension through the ranks has the main parliamentary opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) on edge.
The party said that while President Dr Irfaan Ali talks about protecting women with his “useless” Men on a Mission project, his party has chosen to elevate Dharamlall, “a multiple rape and sexual assault accused”.
Dharamlall secured 1912 votes, defeating party veterans Anil Nandlall (1690), Pauline Sukhai (1688), Frank Anthony (1308) and ex-President, Donald Ramotar (1075).
The opposition noted that given Dharamlall’s new placement within the party, “no one should be surprised if the PPP attempts to reinstate him”.
“That he has been elevated above nearly all the PPP’s members shows the scant regard that that party has for women’s rights and people’s safety…It is either that the powers that be in the PPP have positioned him as the 6th most popular member of the central committee or that he really is nearly as popular as the President,” the opposition said.
Dharamlall was accused of raping a 16-year-old Indigenous schoolgirl. President Irfaan Ali back in July last year, accepted Dharamlall’s resignation, hours after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Bibi Shalimar Hack advised the police that there was no basis to charge the minister with rape as the complainant had withdrawn the allegation.
The Opposition’s commentary on this issue comes days after the PPP/C’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo said that Dharamlall’s ranking does not guarantee his return to office as a Minister.
