Gov’t bemoans double standards of professional bodies

Georgetown, GINA, October 23, 2013

 

Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing today reminded professional bodies of the need for them to remain professional and exude consistency in their actions and in making public pronouncements.

            He highlighted that the legal profession is one such fraternity that stands out with its deficiencies in this regard.

            “In the face of a disturbing breach of ethics by a permanent member of the profession their silence, the professional bodies, and their disavowal of any professional concern in this matter speaks wonders about this body,” he said.

            He also spoke of another professional body which is so seized with impatience that its executive has inveighed against Geetanjali Singh without even concluding the investigations that have been undertaken.

            Geetanjali Singh is an employee of the Audit Office of Guyana. Opposition Parties and other political commentators have been calling for her removal from the post which she currently holds.

A conflict of interest case has been built against Singh, a chartered accountant, simply because she is the spouse of Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.

However, it was explained that she (Geetanjali Singh) is a professional and is not involved in the auditing of accounts of those agencies in which her husband is a part of in any way.    

Dr. Luncheon also lamented  the deafening silence of the free press and those who defend freedom of expression when Guyana Times was judicially sanctioned for what it contends was publishing public information about the records of Guyana Stores.

“No wonder then, another professional body can barely find its resolve to rebuke one of its members for allegedly unprofessional behaviour in the face of its deafening silence on other conduct of other members of the profession,” the HPS concluded.