CARICOM must save Guyana

Jul 11, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Mr. Oscar Clarke of the PNC voiced intense frustration at the lack of response by both the CARICOM Secretariat and the recent meeting of the CARICOM Heads to the signature campaign of the collective opposition to expose bad governance, attack on the rule of law and constitutional violations in Guyana.

The traditional diplomatic niceties that have existed since time immemorial in international relations would have prevented the Heads openly discussing Guyana’s endemic political problems. I doubt the EU would have done otherwise.

The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) based in Brooklyn, headed by Mr. Rickford Burke, has established meaningful contacts with certain Prime Ministers in CARICOM but it is doubtful that if the Guyanese opposition parties had worked through the CGID that would have led to the opening of the door.

Integration movements do not generally openly castigate their constituent members. The CARICOM Heads will thread carefully with Guyana once the PPP is in power.

There is the historical memory that when Guyana was drowning in Burnham’s autocracy, CARICOM stood silently and watched Guyana’s disintegration.

CARICOM Prime Ministers feel that the PPP will throw that double-standard in their face if they should pontificate on the waning of democratic values in Guyana.

But there must be another type of memory among CARICOM leaders that they should be conscious of. That was the time CARICOM pressured President Hoyte in St. Vincent into holding free and fair elections.

Mr. Hoyte could have gone down fighting, insisting that the 1985 elections that brought him to power was not rigged.

Hoyte could also have argued CARICOM had no right to be interfering in the legal and political functioning of the Guyanese society.

But he did not do either. He agreed that the next election Guyana holds would be free and fair. He kept his word.

One would like to think that there is sufficient evidence for CARICOM to start asking discreet and diplomatic questions about the direction the Jagdeo Government has gone into.

CARICOM leaders cannot pretend that they do not know that Guyana’s political instability is not only factual but is taking on ominous shapes.

A well known anti-government activist was jailed for five years then had the charges dropped through a presidential pardon. But this man was not always anti-government.

A close colleague of his was openly executed by gunmen outside his home in full view of seawall strollers.

There has been not one single piece of evidence unearthed by the police to lead them in the path of the killers.

In fact, it would not be incorrect to say that such a brutal murder, that may have both political implications and political consequences, is not given the attention it deserves from the police.
Another outspoken critic of the Government of Guyana has been charged with incitement to create terror.

Many respected political parties and civil right groups have publicly asserted that the charges stemming from statements he made at a press conference should not have been instituted because the words were acceptable in any country that upholds freedom of expression.

I am stating what groups like the PNC, AFC, GHRA, WPA, TUC, ACDA, the Bar Association among others have said about the charge.

I prefer not to offer my position since the matter is sub judice but I would insist that the gentleman should be offered bail.

My belief is that the denial of bail to him is an egregious wrong. The accused comes across as a person that would not flee Guyana and would face his trial.

Are CARICOM leaders unaware that there are cruel gunmen out there attacking and killing people with nihilistic sadism?

These men killed children sleeping in their beds. There are rare examples in history where violent attackers have committed such a bestial crime.

Controversy at present surrounds the massacre of eight diamond miners at their remote camp. If killed by the same marauders, then this is the third mass killing in less than six months.

What do these men want? Do they have a political demand? No one in the society can answer this but quite a large percentage of the lay population believes a political solution is the answer to the violent rampage.

If the miners were murdered by the security forces, then the UN and the OAS may have to intervene and leave CARICOM behind. CARICOM leaders must know about the Roger Khan saga and its implications for damaging Caribbean democracy.

There is a mountain of evidence that Guyana is the sick man of CARICOM. What is CARICOM waiting for? When will people learn the lessons of history? Guyana is heading for collapse. CARICOM must save it.

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