'We are living in the cloud of darkness'

‘We are living in the cloud of darkness’

Aug 18, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,

I believe the various issues that were raised on Channel 8 last weekend on a live call-in programme with an herbal doctor in Berbice and Mr. Ramjattan of the Alliance for Change (AFC) should be made known in these columns.

The programme, a fort-nightly one, was given the name “We are living in the cloud of darkness” and touched on several matters, with alleged mass corruption within the Regional Administration of Region Six.

Ramjattan held up a portion of the Auditor General’s report which bared information regarding the purchase of obviously a second-hand flat-bed equipment by the Region Six RDC. The report, Ramjattan explained, exposed the administration here in Berbice for spending millions of dollars for equipment which wasn’t even working.

The equipment, the AFC Chairman said, was knowingly bought in the state it was in, hence money was wasted by the millions, even though contract of sale among other documents were prepared.

He went on to say that the Regional officials in Berbice would not state such illegalities on their propagandistic television show on NCN “Let’s Talk Berbice” (which has been notably absent from the airwaves for months). He furthered that the opposition parties are not being given airtime on NCN to share their views, and that only pro-government programmes are being shown on NCN in Berbice.

He alluded to the fact that Antigua, a small island, has 16 radio stations. “They control it so that only their propaganda can be pushed in your mouth,” he said.

Touching on the non-professionalism of the police force in Guyana, Ramjattan reported that the British government had wanted to train police in Guyana but said that the government refused the training and asked for the money alone. He said that there needs to be Scotland Yard and Interpol to infiltrate the police here. He said the government rejects that idea because those organisations would in turn expose government corruption as well.

Touching on the fire at the Ministry of Health, Ramjattan stated that it was quite suspicious that the entire area was washed out the following morning with power hoses and evidence destroyed. He found it interesting, too, that channa bomb bottles were left in tact on the site. Suspects, he alleged, were mercilessly beaten by the police and tortured so much that Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris purportedly remarked somewhere that he would’ve blurted out that he had had sex with his grandmother if he was being beaten like those men at the station. He said that policemen should not be allowed to torture confessions out of people.
The Lionel Wordsworth situation concerning alleged buying of houses was also mentioned as well as the denial of any information by Leslie Ramsammy with drug dealer Roger Khan.
Ramjattan said that the present government is good at diverting attention. “Government has this capacity to divert attention like Hitler who burned down the German Parliament in 1939 then put the blame on the opposition.”
He pressed for the Attorney General and Public Prosecutions chambers be strengthened and said, “All the cases are going asunder”.
He said that 15% of monies from contracts in Guyana are going to the “big boys in the Government” and that the President of Guyana is “mo out dan in” the country.
Berbicians, he stated, cannot get their monies from NIS because billions were invested into CLICO and sent to Florida for investment purposes.
As for the polling done by NACTA, Ramjattan opined that Bisram’s poll was a big set- up to bring up a “non-issue”, and related that a third-term for Jagdeo would be opposed and impossible. He said that Jagdeo is fighting a losing battle and flogging a dead horse.
He further stated that reading the Chronicle and Times newspapers would be waste of time, because one would not get the full picture as to reality in Guyana today.
The last item mentioned on the programme was a car which was allegedly sold to Regional Chairman Zulfi Mustapha a few years ago by then PPP member Ramjattan at a cheaper rate.
The panelists that evening urged the good chairman to make the matter a public issue by speaking out about it on the controversial “Let’s Talk Berbice”. “Let’s Talk Berbice” has been heavily criticised over the past years by Berbicians for its one- sidedness of presentation of views and facts.
The programme has been airing irregularly over the past months at various times of the day and week, and had mysteriously taken a new twist and format whereby events that are being held in Berbice are being promoted through the programme instead of matters of interest Berbicians would like to see addressed are aired.
Their phone calls, too, are no longer taken, or quickly disconnected (in the past) if ever the government is being criticised.
The host, too, has come under several attacks as being a figure, who is politically attached to the Regional Administration.
Leon Jameson Suseran