To be silent and fearful will only embolden the enforcers

Oct 21, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Moses Nagamootoo’s letter, published in Kaieteur News on Sunday October 3, 2009, has provided, yet, another occasion for Guyanese to truly examine the state of our nation. Twenty four years after Burnham, the “tyrant”, according to his most defiant critics and we are trying to contextualize fear.
In what I believe is a response to those who commented on his earlier pronouncement in the media where he stated that “the fear today is worst than in the Burnhamite days”, Nagamootoo in his, October 3, letter advises us to contextualize the “fear” we experience in Guyana today.
He further admonishes us to draw a contradistinction between this current state of fear from that fear he appends to the Burnhamite days. At the same time he informs us that the word “worst” was not meant to be part of his earlier dictum.
The PPP/C Member of Parliament’s main contention is that the fear he likened to the Burnhamite era is different than the kind of fear that exists in this current PPP/C/ Jagdeo era. In his attempt to illustrate his point he recanted some of the evils he claims are reflective of the Burnham era.
Nagamootoo brands Burnham and the PNC’s rule to a period where a form of severe absolutism existed, and to accentuate his point he advanced those crimes and misgivings he claims were peculiar to the Burnham era. In the same vein he highlighted the litany of crimes, and misgivings that come to take root in this PPP/C, Jagdeo administration.
I assume that it is based on his categorization of these differences in crimes, and deeds that he think it necessary to talk of “contextualization of the fears”. Unlike, Nagamootoo, I did not live through the entire Burnhamite era (1965-1985) and so I am unable to draw on any personal or practical experience of tyrannical rule, akin to that period.
My own impression of Burnham, however, is that as a young child he made me take pride in being Guyanese. This I believe has left an indelible mark in my mind and is responsible for fostering a deep sense of patriotism within me. I am quite sure that there are others whose, philosophical belief coupled with their own indoctrination, experience and so on that might cause them to have different opinions, justifiable or not, but let’s leave that for another time.
However, I have lived through the last 17 years of the PPP/C rule and am continuously in doubt that a government which touts itself as democratic can unashamedly and in a most unvarnished manner embrace or advance policies that can be deem wholly repressive. Further, I remain baffled that such a government seem to care not when citizens accuses it or its agents of ills such as; murder, constitutional breaches, torture, victimization, discrimination, corruption, and either aiding and/or abetting serious criminal activities. Take for instance the President’s response to the media when asked about letting Minister Ramsammy go, until his alleged involvement with Roger Khan’s criminal enterprise is investigated. What did he say; if he lets the man go he might lose his whole Cabinet, as he might have to act on every letter purported to be written by one of his ministers.
This statement clearly is an affront to the people of Guyana and indicates that the President believes that democracy means government for the government.
I read the letter by the Honourable gentlemen and continues to find it most baffling that we have to be dealing with this whole question of fear, in this our “democratic country”, to the extent that we have to find context for it. The point is, as Nagamootoo pointedly reminds us, Burnham and the PNC period of government, was branded by the PPP and other critics as a most dictatorial time. For the sake of argument one who has a good grasp of regimes categorized in as such might contend that if the unwarranted happenings referred to by Nagamootoo, indeed, took place under Burnham, “the dictator”, then those actions might have been in keeping with, authoritarian rule.
I am, therefore, in a state of mystification that we are experiencing executive suppression and political censorship many times worst than those who lived through the Burnham era.
Remember! Burnham’s time, was a time of “dictatorial rule” different from democratic rule, we are supposed to have been experiencing today.
Rupert Roopnarine speaking to the Guyanese Diaspora via conference Roopnarine, last year, had this to say with regard the management of the state; “the PPP/C has made Burnham look like a school boy”. This is a man who, like Nagamootoo, lived through the entire Burnham era and has protested against the Great Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (L.F.S.B), and the PNC government many times.
By any stretch of imagination, whether we put the fear in context or not the PPP/C Government has cast a blanket of fear over Guyana that the nation could have never envisaged. It is the kind of fear that has time and again renders our fundamentally guaranteed rights in jeopardy. Celebrated consternation in this “democracy”! Rather than desperately trying to put fear in context the basic question should be why are we talking of the existence of fear in this, as Nagamootoo describes it, “the dawn of a new era”, precipitated by “free and fair elections?” Or was October 5, 1992, the PPP/C’s “return to democracy” date, supposed to have ushered in and unleash a new or different wave of “fear”, on the unsuspecting populace? Is Guyana truly democratic, or are we making a mock of the term democracy.
Why are we, in this much bragged about democracy, grappling to contextualize the fear that beseeches the nation? Nagamootoo tells us of how many in Burnham days stood up against this “demagogue”, and even give example of how he pelted Burnham’s car to demonstrate his fierceness.
Nagamootoo did not tell us that the fear experienced in the Burnhamite days did not deter the government’s critics and Burnham’s political rivals from engaging in acts of sabotage, such as burning cane fields etc. I
am quite positive that should this current fear existed then, people would not dare think about engaging in such acts, and Nagamootoo might have run rather than stood up to pelt the “black car”.
So let’s not try to be politically correct and play with words, Guyana is experiencing the worst kind of fear ever, today. MP Nagamootoo, admonishes Guyanese to stand up and speak out against the transgressions of the PPP/C government, a view I strongly endorse, but what he failed to acknowledge is that people are concerned about the sophisticated and hi-tech means the government seems prepared to utilise to track down and deal with those who they feel have a different view.
Let’s not forget the widespread fear of having simple telephone conversations after the notorious Roger Khan spy equipment (the laptop) was intercepted in 2002, on the East Coast Demerara. The said equipment used to tape conversations of the chief law enforcer, then top cop, Winston Felix. Yes, the infamous laptop allegedly purchased by Minister of Health, Leslie Ramsammy, on behalf of the Guyana Government.
So what Mr. Nagamootoo should do is to specifically identify this, particular, fear and encourage us to defy the intentions of the “fear enforcers” and speak out regardless. Yes, we are encouraged by his fighting spirit, his illustrations informs us that in as much as he lamented how freedom of speech was suppressed under Burnham he and others were able to retaliate, but what exist in our “electoral democracy” today is that the fear is so prevalent, and the realities are so frightening that to speak up can mean losing your life, or your livelihood.
Remember George Bacchus, the day before he was slated to give evidence to the Discipline Services Commission, he was gunned down in his bed.
Don’t talk of the countless others whose demise rest on similar circumstances. The MP tells us of how free speech and the name Burnham could not be written in the same sentence, but what is free speech when you are punished for speaking the truth, or adding a different view? I am sure we know why; C N Sharma and his TV station was “disciplined by the President” and so banned for months, Kaieteur News singled out for certain treatments, SN advertisements were withdrawn, HBTV Channel 9 and viewership gets black out almost every time the PNCR “Nation Watch” programme is to be aired. Among other repressive acts are; government’s monopoly on radio broadcasting since this rebirth of democracy in 1992. Thank God for the recent ruling in Tony Vieira’s case. In fact, Mr. Nagamootoo reminded us of some of these things but failed to make the relevant connections, in order that the fears are clearly distinguished and fully contextualized, in keeping with his thrust.
Nagamootoo also saw Burnham’s ban on certain food items as a policy of a dictator, but tell me how good is a 16 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) when more than 20 percent of the people, according to a recent study, live on less than US$3 a day (i.e, $600.00). While the flour and dhol might be available we still cannot get it because of the imposition of this “over board” tax. In fact this tax is a burden on every Guyanese, as it is imposed on almost every consumable item. I wonder which is the lesser of the two evils, the banning as opposed the availability and still can’t buy it.
I wonder if Burnham’s critics have ever considered assessing his leadership in relation to a context. Did the local and international context cause him to initiate a ban on certain food items? Or maybe there is no need to discuss context when dealing with a ‘dictator’.
I find it necessary to point out these facts and I must state that I strongly agree with Mr. Moses Nagamootoo, that people should speak out against this form of “dictatorial democracy”.
Fear has no place in a modern, civilized, democratic society, to be silent and fearful will only embolden the enforcers and allow for unfettered enforcement.
Despite Martin Luther King and others had seen the odds and witnessed fear in all its form they defied fear and continued to speak up, today Barack Obama is President of the United States.
It’s time to speak out!
Lurlene Nestor

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