Gya: Reeaz Khan's 13-year-old paramour in TT?

President Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday told the Trinidad Express that his government would raise the age of consent.

It was his first comment on the controversy surrounding a 13-year-old and businessman Reeaz Khan who has admitted having sexual relations with the girl and wants to marry her.

...Jagdeo's administration has been criticised for not acting quicker in raising the age of consent.The issue has been on the government's agenda since 1994.

Meanwhile,the 13-year-old girl whose whereabouts have been unknown since she fled her aunt's home on May 29 may be in Trinidad and Tobago.

Stabroek News was informed yesterday that the child telephoned a relative late last week, who is presently living in Canada, and said she was calling from the twin-island Republic.

Stabroek News understands that this new development has since been reported to law enforcement authorities and a senior police official has assured this newspaper that the tip is being investigated.

The child's mother had last week told this newspaper that her daughter had taken her passport from the house and had expressed the hope that authorities were on the alert because she feared the 13-year-old would be sent out of the country.

Well, if it's been ten years since raising the age of consent has been on the agenda of the Guyanese government, it's unlikely that Jagdeo's government will do anything before the girl's 18th birthday in September, 2008. Under Guyanese law, 14 is the youngest age at which she can marry; however, she needs her parents' consent until she's eighteen. The question is, will Reeaz Khan's "affection" endure? If it doesn't, the young lady is the one who'll be up a creek without a paddle.

In the meantime, if she's in TT, with whom is she staying? Since at 13 she would not have had the funds to transport herself to TT, then it is likely that Khan, himself, smuggled her out of Guyana -- ten to one, in broad daylight and under the eyes of lax Guyanese Immigration officials, too. If she's in TT, how long will she remain there? Or, will she be smuggled out of TT to Barbados, and from there to the U.S.? It's been done in the past.

One would have imagined that the public outcry would have prompted a swift response, such as the passage of a law raising the age of consent. However, it has not. The question is, what is the impediment? Is it culture? Or, is it just disinclination to do anything that would inhibit the desires of the powerful and wealthy?

Until the daughter of one of the government ministers is kidnapped and raped** by a man such as Reeaz Khan, Guyana may not see any increase in the age of consent.

**N.B.: Since the child is under 14, she is below the age of consent and, though willing, may not, by law, agree to sexual intercourse with anybody, hence "rape."