Goats bite, don’t they?

Apr 07, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Do you realize that if the PPP wins the 2011 national elections, by the time the 2016 elections come around you would have had the PPP in power for 24 years. That would be the longest reigning organization in the history of the Anglophone West Indies and among the longest in the world.
Not many countries have seen that kind of pattern. You had the Conservative Party in Ontario, and a few cases in Central America and Africa. Of course there are the communist states – China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea. But there will be a big difference with the PPP and those situations mentioned above should the PPP win the 2011 election.
Even though some parties have been in power for over two decades, apart from the head man (Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, Hosni Mabarak in Egypt, Khadafi in Libya among others), the ministers have changed constantly over a period of time.
If the PPP wins and some of the PPP stalwarts are retained, then that means some of these names would have been Cabinet members for 24 years. This is indeed a depressing scenario, to put it mildly.
Rohee, Luncheon, Teixeira, Kellawan Lall, Clinton Collymore, Feroze Mohamed, Reepu Daman Persaud, Indra Chandrapal have been Cabinet Members since 1992 whether as advisors or Ministers. Donald Ramotar has enjoyed power, too, since 1992 by virtue of his hierarchical position in the PPP.
Should the PPP come through in 2011 and those names are retained in the positions they currently hold or elevated as in the case of Ramotar, we would have had a group of people plus an organization (the PPP) holding state power or enormous authority or wide latitude for 24 years.
Not to mention that if the PPP wins and Navin Chandrapal is reintegrated into the Cabinet, his years would be 23.This should not happen to Guyana and we as voters should not let it happen.
Have goats bitten this nation that we have to endure 24 years of authority of one political party and a number of its leading cadres? It means that an entire generation would have grown up knowing only one type of leadership in their country.
If you think this is frightening then take a look at who will be President if the PPP wins. I am absolutely sure goats have bitten this nation. Mr. Ramkarran has not held public office in the mainstream sense of the word although he has been in the top branch of his party since 1974. It stretches the imagination to think that one can call the Speaker of the Guyana Parliament a full-time public service occupation.
Almost everything that is wrong about the Jagdeo presidency Mr. Ramkarran doesn’t know about, if you should judge him by the answers he gave in a television interview. To add to our fears about Mr. Ramkarran, he keeps telling us about the things he would like to see a PPP Government implement even though the PPP has been the policy-making source of the Government for 18 years now and Mr. Ramkarran has been in the leadership bracket of that party since 1974.
He wants a lowering of the tax burden for the small Guyanese and for the NIS to pay benefits for those over 60 years. Can someone ask Mr. Ramkarran if he ever tabled these as motions for his party to translate into policy the past 18 years?
In other words, can we believe Mr. Ramkarran has leadership qualities?
Next is Clement Rohee. He boldly stated that goat ain’t bite him so why should he not run for president. Goat bite Mr. Rohee a long, long time ago.
Goat bite he again when the Americans took away his visa. Goat bite he again when he called the serious crime of torture by the security forces of accused in their custody as an issue that should not warrant his attention because his plate has other pressing matters.
Goat bite he again when he claimed that the rat infested, sewage-infested, uncivilized Brickdam lock-ups is not a five-star hotel.
Instead of being ignominiously tossed out of office by his superiors, he wants to be president. Indeed, goats have bitten this nation.
Next on the list is Donald Ramotar. I am still researching what he has done for this country. And he got pipped by Ramkarran. At least Ramkarran can shout from the rooftop that he served Guyana by being Speaker of the House. My understanding is that Mr. Ramotar hasn’t got even a week of full-time service in the public sector.
Indeed goats have bitten this nation.

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