Chasm of nihilism

Sep 15, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Look at Guyana at the end of 1992 and compare it now as 2008 enters its last quarter. The euphoria that greeted the new government was phenomenal.

In a country that knew only racial competition, the change of the guards at the end of 1992 was welcomed by all ethnic groups in Guyana. African Guyanese did vote for the PNC in the 1992 election, but deep in their collective psyche, African Guyanese needed breathing space from the PNC.

The party was in power since 1964. Even though Hoyte had engineered magnificent changes that made the country respect him, the feeling was that the country should try new leadership.

The PPP had the embrace of the nation, especially since it was felt that Jagan should be given his chance after decades of rigged elections. The expectations of the PPP were unending. People wanted changes from the way power was exercised.

Banned goods were brought back by Hoyte, but the desire was for a total transformation of Guyana. Today, the paradise we thought would come with Cheddi Jagan has drifted into an ocean of nightmares. It is not only paradise that we have lost, but we are journeying on the road to perdition.

The degeneracy, moral turpitude, political perversities and power abuse that permeate the entire landscape of this country are unimaginable when one stacks them up against the dreams we had after the PNC went out of office. It was said that moral respect as an institution had died after the social collapse under Burnham, but sixteen years after the demise of PNC power, moral respect is a lost virtue in this society.

With each passing day, Guyanese are losing respect for everything around them when they look at the crude exercise of power and the lack of obligation on the part of those in authority.

The security sector continues to be disrespected because of the way they treat the nation. The police drift from one bad story to the other. It is within this context that one must understand the refusal of the Americans to help with the forensic analysis of the Lindo Creek massacre.

The Americans must have said that they want to stay away from the episodes of sordidness that accompany many of the policies of the Guyana Police Force. In which country can you find the police saying that they have a suspect in the killing of eight persons and then refuse to tell the nation where the suspect is? Has this person been killed?

Did the person exist in the first place? Is he/she being held? Do his/her blood relations know about his/her incarceration?

The police cannot command loyalty from the general public when they trample on justice in ways that offend every decent bone in one’s body. The Gilhuys controversy reminds us most brutally that the dream of 1992 is dead.

The law cannot prevent a person from denying that he/she was attacked. If Mr. Jones struck me and the police say they saw it but I refuse to identify Jones, there is nothing the law can do? If the policeman that was allegedly shot by Mr. Gilhuys claims that he doesn’t know who struck him, then we cannot demand the arrest of the magistrate. But it was the police who told the public that an unlicensed firearm was used by Mr. Gilhuys.

I was shocked when I read that the DPP, Shalimar Hack, wrote that the media could have contacted her for her position on the Gilhuys incident. How can an important public official make such an observation when the media find it impossible to talk to her? For two consecutive weeks, I communicated with her office to speak with her, but never received the courtesy of a reply. The Stabroek News has argued that, in the Gilhuys matter, it was unsuccessful in reaching Mrs. Hack.

Guyana is fast going down the chasm of nihilism. Nothing good has come from the changeover in 1992. GPL agreed to arbitration, and when fair-minded people ruled that GPL was wrong to its workers, in typical fascist style, this state owned company has refused to comply with a legal ruling by a legal body. This is the dictatorship of Forbes Burnham all over again.

President Jagdeo, who intervened and fired the chairman of the board of GPL some months ago, has said not a word about this fascist intransigence. This country is ruled by a party that says it is Marxist-Leninist, and that means it is a workers’ party.

Is this the way a working class government treats the labouring masses? Finally, it looks like sugar workers aren’t listening to their manipulators any longer. That is wonderful news for this country.

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