These two recent events demand immediate amendments to the Cybercrime Act 2018

Freedom of speech and expression does not come cheaply in any part of the world; it is paid for with blood and the assault on it is unrelenting.

David Granger’s Cybercrime Act of 2018 is being used by citizens to silence voices that offend, insult, and/or vilify them. I cannot stay silent while this assault on our essential right to speak is torn from us. I shall not vilify the Guyana Police Force for their response to reports and subsequent arrests of Sherod Duncan and multiple ‘Mudwata’ suspects; the police are mandated to enforce the laws of Guyana and the same applies to the Irfaan Ali administration, as it too, is bound by the law of the land. What I will ask is for the organizations who have appointed themselves the voices of ‘civil society’ to take their eyes off of the oil money for a moment and join with me in calling for the repeal or amendment of APNU+AFC’s Cybercrime Act of 2018.

I do not agree with the opinions of Sherod Duncan, but I will defend his right to speak and express himself in a manner that he feels comfortable. As for ‘Mudwata’, that brand of satirical entertainment worked as an anonymous cartoon character. During the period in Guyana’s history, when our democracy was threatened by the APNU+AFC attempt to steal the election, ‘Mudwata’ stood fearlessly on the side of right and was emphatic and impactful in defense of democracy; we must do the same for ‘Mudwata’ now that his/her/our freedom of speech and expression are under threat. These are two recent high-profile casualties of the Cybercrime Act and both were brought by Guyanese citizens against their fellows; this is an ominous development and underscores the need for the immediate repeal before the rot of reporting on our neighbors’ sets within the psyche. The post-war confessional prose by German pastor Martin Niemöller “First they came…” applies.