GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – A member of the Women and Gender Equality Commission, Nandranie Coonjah, has been sworn in as a member of Parliament, replacing the former minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, who tendered his resignation earlier this month after he had been accused of sexually assaulting a school girl.
Coonjah took her oath of office on Thursday before the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, during the 65th Sitting of the National Assembly.
Dharamsala, an executive member of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), had submitted his resignation as a legislator on July 13 as police probed the allegations against him by a 16-year-old girl.
The embattled Dharamlall had also been placed on a one million dollars (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) station bail after he was arrested in June in connection with the allegations. He had also gone on leave to facilitate the probe.
But earlier this month, the minister was freed of the charges after the police confirmed that the 16-year-old schoolgirl no longer wanted to pursue the matter.
There had been calls from the opposition and several civil society organizations, including the Amerindian Peoples Association and Red Thread, for Dharamlall to be removed from public office.
The Office of the DPP, in a statement, had urged the public to desist from politicizing an alleged criminal offense,
Under Guyana’s electoral system, 25 of the 65 Members of Parliament are elected from the ten geographical constituencies; the other 40 are pulled from the national top-up list.
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