Remember, Mr. Gill, a democracy is not a dictatorship

Sep 13, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I take a moment to respond to Mr. Harry Gill, who has once again provided all the reasons to vote the PPP/C out in 2011.
In his KN letter dated 09/11/11 and captioned “PNC Kool-Aid drinkers have no moral grounds on which to criticize the PPP/C”, he was merely saying to Guyanese that the massive corruption and misuse of public funds in the PPP/C administration is justified because he alleges that Burnham and the PNC did the same thing.
Gill claimed that the WikiLeaks disclosure that the PPP/C is tightening its hold on the state’s apparatus can be justified because, again, he asserted that Burnham and the PNC did the same.
In his defence of the PPP/C’s corruption, mismanagement, abuse of state power, abrogation of the Constitution, cronyism and apparent ties to drug cartels and money launderers, Gill tells Guyanese that we should not criticize the PPP/C nor denounce their action because he claims that Burnham stacked away money in some bank overseas.
What is so foolish about the man’s entire missive is that his argument rests firmly in a belief that Burnham and the PNC did wrong so Guyanese must sit back and accept all the atrocities, thievery, corruption, and mismanagement that the PPP/C has pronounced upon this nation because it is simply the PPP/C‘s time to do so. What lunacy!
Gill is singing the songs directly out of the PPP/C’s songbook, a book in which the only tune is “dis is we time, now”. This tune was sung within the hallowed walls of the National Assembly, not so long ago, when a Minister of the Government, in response to the opposition’s query on a particular capital work, blurted out “dis is we time now alyuh had 28 years we gon get 56”.
I am quite sure this highly vocal government minister remembers his words. That day I left the parliament disillusioned and sad, to know that this is the level of thinking that prevails amongst those who make decisions that matters to us, Guyanese.
Therefore, I am not surprised by Mr. Gill’s trend of thought. But to think that he can actually have the temerity to share it with the nation and the world, how sad!
Every Guyanese must reject this kind of worthless position as it will not benefit any of us, but will render us a totally backward and corrupt nation.
Think about what message the PPP/C and Harry Gill are sending to our youths when they advance this sorry position and propose these dumbfounding theories. Young people in Guyana are not interested in the ills of the past they are concerned about their present and future situations.
For most of them, the only government they know is the PPP/C and the only outcomes they experience are joblessness, fear and intimidation, victimization, suppression of their freedom, crime and corruption, poverty, crushing 16% VAT, government-sponsored bashments (fêtes) every weekend, Jagdeo thanking himself, domestic violence, death squads, the Roger Khans, alarming drug trade, violence in schools, failing education system, abrogation of the rule of law, and all the other evils that the PPP/C brought with it.
Mr. Gill and the other milk drinkers should be focused on these issues. Young Guyanese are not the idiots the PPP/C think they are, and they will not be fooled. They do not believe that Guyanese are so insane that they are willing to embrace the posture exhibited by Harry Gill and the PPP/C. For them, this posture cannot aid the true development of this beautiful country, hence their gravitation to more progressive and responsible thinking.
As a consequence their support for David Granger and APNU is noted, as they believe that only in true partnership and a common social contract with all of our peoples and parties will Guyana realize its true potential.
Mr. Gill, unlike you, who practice armchair politics, I have been traveling the length and breadth of Guyana, talking to both young and not so young of all races; and the operative word is ‘change’. Your comrades will not tell you this, but will only feed you the lies they know you are ready to believe. But, my friend, I am on the ground, and Guyanese are thirsty for A Partnership for National Unity.
As one elderly gentleman from Mon Repos puts it “is bout time ah be wuk fuh dah unity”, with that he took my flyer and posted it on his wall. A Lusignan resident could not contain himself as he burst into tears and lamented “dem people dis ah sheer corruption, look how ah be deh”.
Harry Gill, there is no stopping change. The PNC has been out of power for almost two decades, the PPP/C cannot base their campaign on those years, Guyanese want them to account for their stewardship… it has been almost 20 years.
Whether it is WikiLeaks or the various international reports which highlight the wrath of this PPP/C government, the truth is Guyanese cannot suffer anymore.
Further, since you and your cohorts in the government are keen on justifying the deeds of the administration by pointing fingers at Burnham and the PNC, I think it is only fair to remind you that context and categorization are very relevant here. You and those of your ilk deemed that PNC administration a dictatorship, so assuming that your accusations leveled at the PNC were proven, one might argue that the PNC was living up to its classification or was acting as it was branded.
Simply put, it might have been operating as that dictatorial regime you claim it was. However, in 1992 the PPP/C came into office with this as their catch slogan “return to democracy”, so since that PPP/C government touts itself as a democratic regime, one would not expect it to be engaged in those dictatorial acts, which you believe must be justified.
This is the kind of hypocrisy that Guyanese cannot tolerate; the PPP/C preaches democracy but practices tyrannical rule. Therefore, Mr. Gill watch your logic, the undemocratic acts and abuse of state power by the PPP/C cannot and must not be justified, unless of course, you believe like most Guyanese believe, that Guyana is experiencing a new kind of dictatorship more ruthless than we could have imagined.
Remember, Mr. Gill, a democracy is not a dictatorship.
Lurlene Nestor

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