The Guyanese I admired in 2009

Jan 17, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

It was certainly a bad year for freedom, justice, equality, racial acceptance, trade union rights, consumers’ rights, good governance and economic growth in this poor, tragic land that limps on from one year to the other. In the midst of a sea of angst, resignation and pessimism, some Guyanese emitted rays of hope that we should remember in 2010 as we go on to pursue our dreams of a good, decent Guyana where power will be tamed, racial discrimination by those who control the resources of the state will end, and there will be opportunities for the poor and powerless.
I start with Stanley Ming. Not since Peter D’Aguiar in the sixties and Yesu Persaud in the late eighties and early nineties, has a businessman been so fearless to commit himself to political change, irrespective of the personal harm and state victimization it can bring. Ming is not afraid to pursue an agenda that does not feature an embrace of the government of the day. Ming is not intimidated into supporting a regime that he feels has killed Guyana’s future. Like D’Aguiar and Persaud, he stood to lose his “empire” but he has spoken and will continue to speak out.
Stanley Ming and Christopher Ram stand out as shining examples of business people who want to see democracy come to their country
Next on my list is Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards. Sitting in the High Court presiding over a matter involving CLICO, she withdrew on the basis of conflict of interest; she is a CLICO-shareholder. This is a brilliant reminder of the values this country once possessed, destroyed by Dr. Jagan first, when he was Premier, then Mr. Burnham when he was President, Dr. Jagan as President and his wife who succeeded him in 1997 and now Mr. Jagdeo. The sacred principle of conflict of interest was thrown out the window by Dr. Jagan as Premier thus destroying the neutrality of the civil service. Dr. Jagan plucked his friend from Queen’s College and made him his Permanent Secretary. This was the beginning of party paramountcy.
We know what Burnham did to the neutral civil service, which Dr. Jagan continued after 1992. Today one of the most inflexible PPP leaders is the Chairman of the NIS, Dr. Luncheon, courtesy of President Jagan. Mr. Jagdeo simply carries on in the tradition he inherited from his elders. Mention must be made of the contempt with which the PPP sees the sacred value of conflict of interest. For over 20 years, the PPP’s congressional elections have been presided over by a man who contested the election himself. Then at the last congress, he wasn’t in that position but still competed for a seat.
He had a miserable showing. The question is; in all those years did he have an impressive showing because he was involved in overseeing the election? But this wasn’t all. At the last PPP congress, the gentleman who supervised the process was also a candidate. Now brace yourself for what happens when conflict of interest goes out the window. This fellow brought first. Well, legally he brought third because the President and Mrs. Jagan came in first and second respectively. He came third. But it was expected that the President and Mrs. Jagan would secure high votes. So in actuality, the supervisor of the elections brought first, beating, out many powerful PPP leaders.
Finally, I take my hat off to Malcolm Harrypaul who last year did what we expected all decent East Indians to have done in 2009 – speak out as an East Indian against a government that has become undemocratic, brutal, criminal in intent and shamelessly racist. Sadly, we could have counted on our fingers last year, the Indians who have done such a noble act. I have known Malcolm Harrypaul for more than thirty years. Malcolm has always been an Indian rights activist when the PPP was in the opposition and when it became the government after 1992. But his ideology went beyond Indian rights. It incorporated decency and accountability in the exercise of power and respect for the rights of other ethnic groups.
Harrypaul is an Indian rights crusader but he is a believer in racial equality. He didn’t see this in a party he fought for and a party whose acquisition to power he supported. Publicly, through letters in the independent dailies last year, he castigated, condemned and fulminated against the PPP Government for transforming itself into an elected dictatorship. Last year, if we had more East Indians like Harrypaul, maybe elected dictatorship would have been weakened. Finally, I salute Lincoln Lewis and Mark Benschop for rising above the morbid complacency that has dispirited this nation.

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