Honduras and Guyana: Whose priority?

Jul 17, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The PPP continues to prove its critics right. I once did a column, “That song is sung out, that bell is rung out,” about the PPP and Clement Rohee in particular who have nothing to go to their supporters with during election time but to carp on what the PNC did when it governed.
The very PNC that has been out of power for seventeen years. Few, if any, twenty-two year-old citizens would know about what the PNC did. In another piece I specifically mentioned Rohee’s stuck record. I predicted that Rohee would go on this bandwagon as election time draws closer
Mr. Rohee fired off a letter to the two independent dailies complaining that the PNC has not issued a forthright condemnation of the coup in Honduras as if we, in Guyana care more about that coup than the type of perversities Mr. Rohee’s Government perpetrates and perpetuates on this sad, tragic, helpless nation. Let it be clearly said that Clement Rohee in his Thursday letter in KN and Norman Girvan, who wrote about the coup in the Monday issue of SN, have no moral authority to speak about military takeover in any country.
There is a military government in Cuba the past fifty years with Castro and his brother sporting their military uniforms since 1959. In Cuba, the military rules and Castro and his brother do not hide that fact because they wear military uniforms in their offices while administering the affairs of the state
Minister Rohee, who is still to tell the nation why he became the only serving Minister in a Caricom Government that was refused a US visa, had his letter published in the KN the day after a peaceful picket by some respected and prominent trade unionists and political activists was broken up and three persons were imprisoned in the Brickdam remand. To make Rohee’s letter look even more foolish, these three personalities were placed on $50, 000 bail each.
They rightly refused because they should have been let out on the basis of their standing. So Rohee who is afraid of military coups overthrowing governments sees nothing wrong with the arrest of peaceful picketers
Maybe, Rohee’s intellectual endowment failed him but he missed Robert Corbin’s point about the overthrow of the Honduran President. I’m certainly no fan of Corbin but he certainly showed more intellectual keenness than Rohee. Mr. Corbin did not say the military putsch was right. His observation was that when governments violate the rule of law, constitutional values and behave undemocratically they invite what happened in Honduras. Only a moron would disagree. This is like arguing against common sense. This is like pushing an open door. The unconstitutional removal of governments by the armed forces has a long history in world politics. The reason can take many forms. In some instances the army doesn’t like the progressive policies of the government as was the case in Chile. In Ghana, it could be for reasons that have to do with outrageous governance by the civilian government
Perhaps the closest analogy could be taken from sociology. Guyana belongs to every citizen. Every citizen has a right to go where he/she wants to any anytime of the day in a 24-hour period. But since the Dutch came here how many couples have driven at 3 a.m. on the seawall and had a lovely tryst? The answer is maybe none. It is your country alright but you will get robbed and the predators will drive away with your car.
Mr. Rohee should ask Guyanese why they spoil the aesthetically lovely façade of their houses by putting grills all over. I hope Mr. Rohee is intellectually strong to know the answer. Kaieteur News once had a front page photo of a mansion in Mahaica with a mountain of grill that covered the entire building. Can Mr. Rohee be shown that photo?
The unconstitutional erasure of elected government in Honduras is one issue. Another subject-matter is the terrible governance of elected leaders that can cause the military to topple them. Such action is wrong and the US, OAS and the world should condemn what happened in Honduras. But one would like to think that the lessons of bad governance are learnt by authoritarian leaders.
A horror story, bordering on fascist cruelties followed Samuel Doe’s coup in Liberia after he removed the civilian regime. Ministers were tied to telephone poles and degutted and the photos shown around the world. The armed forces should back down and let the Honduran President continue his rule. But why was he interested in ending term-limits? What was his motive?

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Honduras and Guyana: Whose priority?

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