That naked pander to race

Jul 31, 2016 Features / Columnists, My Column

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This past week there was a lot of focus on government discriminating against people of East Indian ancestry and against those supposedly linked to the People’s Progressive Party. One would get the impression that the government had a list and it simply marked off the names of people of East Indian ancestry.
What is surprising is that the government has a lot of people of East Indian ancestry in its Cabinet. And even this became a target for the political opposition. The political opposition contended that the Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, was almost denuded.
There were no such complaints from Nagamootoo and his party leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, who is a Vice President in the government. Of course this pandering to race is a dangerous thing. There are people who are silly enough to believe whatever their leaders tell them.
I was at a press conference hosted by Clement Rohee when he stepped up to defend Bharrat Jagdeo. I asked him to provide the names of two Indians who were victimized and he glibly said that he was still compiling the list.
I reminded him that I was editing New Nation after his government came into office. I reminded him that within two months I was publishing a list of the people his government summarily dismissed. I told him that he had one year and he could not provide two names.
His colleague Gail Teixeira then came up and glibly tried to measure the number of East Indians on Government Boards. As fate would have it, all the Boards set up by the PPP were heavily stacked with people of East Indian ancestry. Is it coincidental that this was the case?
Everyone recognized that the PPP would put its people in positions, even if it was just to satisfy the support these people gave it for the elections. It was the same with the diplomatic service. It later came out in court that there were no persons of African ancestry heading a mission. That is not the case today.
I remember Dr Cheddi Jagan removing Nigel Gravesande from his post as a Permanent Secretary because he said that he had the right to choose his permanent secretary. Rashleigh Jackson was the Foreign Minister. He had with him Rudy Insanally. He was sent packing and Rudy Insanally was kept.
But whatever the reason, the PPP was the first to politicize not only the public service, but also every aspect of national life. Skill and ability passed for nothing. Yet the people of Guyana paid no mind, because they said that the government had to work with what it was comfortable. This was the case for 23 years.
I was very aware of this, because I was the first to be removed. I was the Editor-in-Chief at the Guyana Chronicle at the time. There were qualified people in the lineup but the PPP chose to bring in the late Sharief Khan. When Sharief died there was Mark Ramotar. It was the same with radio and television. GuySuCo was no different and the trend continued, but one did not sit back to worry about the blatant discrimination. The sale of state lands, the appointment of Permanent Secretaries, the head of commissions with the Ethnic Relations Commission being the one exception, the selection of members of parliament and the list goes on.
All those who were relieved at the end of their tenure were caught up in some shenanigan that may still warrant police action. There were others for non-performance. We have the probe of a permanent secretary who was assigned to Office of the President. He was actually a member of the PPP elections slate but he was not removed until the investigators found an overwhelming illegality. The facts would be made public in the coming days.
They talked about the repossession of core homes, suggesting that again the government was targeting people of East Indian ancestry. Many of these people never occupied the homes, some choosing to acquire them for their children who were not of age. These were the speculators and the PPP did not care.
In fact, it was the then Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who said that his government turned a blind eye to illegalities.
Race is something that I don’t carp about, because the bottom line is that I have to live with every Guyanese, regardless of race or colour. I believe that Guyanese of every persuasion has a right to work. I would never support any move to discriminate against anyone.
Glenn Lall can also talk about this form of discrimination. When I joined his staff the PPP made it known that the government would not be keen to provide advertisements to his paper once I was employed there.
I would hate to recap the extent of the PPP victimization against people of African ancestry. However, there is a reason for the PPP to resort to the race card, even if it has to lie through its teeth. It believes that it needs its race base if it is ever to get back into power.
The then Bharrat Jagdeo, when he was president, said that “them” people can’t ever get back into power. He reportedly said that “Dem days over.” Who was the them”?

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