Trying to read too much into the congress vote

Aug 08, 2008 Features / Columnists

The critics are still at it, and although the results of the congress are clear, the critics have found ways of adding their own twist to things.

However, it is clear that they are uncertain how to use the facts and figures that have been placed before their very eyes. One particular critic, Mr Freddie Kissoon, wants to use the figures and at the same time reject them.

It was not surprising to see and read criticisms over the way the central committee voted, because people these days tend to be skeptical when it suits them.

Mr Kissoon writes that the figures had to be skewed because some of the people who got high votes were not really known.

That has to be the biggest piece of rubbish since the days of Jerry Lewis and the other comedians. He omits the fact that some of those in the top ten are not very well known in political circles.

Kissoon failed to realize that several of these individuals started as vibrant youth leaders, who not only represented the party at international forums, but who also led many delegations overseas. There will be much “rubbish” passing as analyses of the congress results.

At the end of the day, the PPP leadership has the right to mix talent, youth, experience and class interest. I dare anyone to show me a political party with similar attributes.

But the critics must find something to talk or write about, and Freddie Kissoon is no exception. He then adopts the same figures that he says are skewed, because he must find something to be critical about.

The joke of the year is that he finds it strange that not all the delegates voted for President Bharrat Jagdeo.

He then goes on to say that Mrs Janet Jagan should have moved on so that a younger person could take her place.

Mr Kissoon himself should have been stepping down from his position at the University of Guyana to allow for a younger person; but, in the scheme of things, some people readily give advice but they do not take their own advice.

Peeping Tom uses the figures to do an analysis. He, like Freddie Kissoon, sees all manner of things in these figures.

He sees the number of votes accruing to some of the other people as an indication that they have been relegated in the party.

Listening and reading all the things that have been peddled in certain sections of the media, both Kissoon and Peeping Tom concluded that there was an heir apparent to the presidency. They are now using the figures to create other heirs apparent.

But they are not the only ones. One reporter attempted to make a lot of comments about the opposition media, and actually reported — rather inaccurately — on some comments by Dr Roger Luncheon. Indeed, there are some media houses that would only seek to report on the negatives that they see.

Anything positive is ignored. There are no updates on the work to link the eastern part of the country with the west, no reports on the influx of food as a result of the Grow More campaign, no reports on the efforts to reverse the trend in education.

These reporters would like to see a situation in which the Government does not get its message across. Dr Luncheon says that the Government has a right to air its views, and as such it must use the media at its disposal. This, to the people in the opposition media, is a criminal move.

None of them laud the fact that they can print and broadcast anything without hindrance; that they do enjoy freedom of expression; that Guyana is rated by the international community as having one of the freest media in the world.

They are so free that they could invade the precincts of the party congress unhindered and report on what they felt.

In other parts of the world, they would have been removed because of security reasons; but the Government, and the party out of which it came, has nothing to hide, so these reporters were allowed to remain wherever they ensconced themselves.

There will be an analysis of the congress, and this will be made public. There has already been a press conference to report on the very congress, and the reporters, as expected, wanted to know why their campaign to get the party to nominate the next presidential candidate did not bear fruit.

In their book, they are the people who must dictate to the party and the Government, and whenever they are ignored they resort to the tune that has become all too popular: ‘Blame the Government’.

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