Silhouettes of dictatorship in 2010 in Guyana

Jan 04, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I had little respect, if any, for Janet Jagan when she was alive. When she died, the next day I wrote on this page that she was the last of the global fascists from the early 20th century. In my heart I meant nothing personal about Mrs. Jagan but I love my country and I know like so many others of her generation, she was responsible for the opaque future that Guyanese see ahead of them.
I am not exonerating others like Forbes Burnham, Hamilton Green etc but Mrs. Jagan and her husband equally contributed to the destruction of this land.
Mrs. Jagan had a weekly column in her newspaper and in the months before she died she took some trenchant digs at the United States. Two chastisements I remember – Guyana offers free medical service; the US don’t; and democracy in the US is not what the people of the world think it is.
Even if there are democratic contortions in the US, the American system of rights and justice is superior to what obtains in Guyana. My beef with people like Mrs. Jagan is that even if there are farcical structures in the US, then, leaders like her had the moral obligation to make the justice system in their country better than the US.
But I believe Mrs Jagan was just being hypocritical. Her Government had no intention of bettering Guyana in comparison to the US.
Take this example. In the dying moments of 2010, President Bharrat Jagdeo’s name appeared in an incident that the American people would never, I repeat never tolerate. A Guyana Revenue Authority officer on the wharf insisted that a container in Mr. Jagdeo’s name confirm to the paper procedures. For that she was transferred. Then she called this newspaper voicing fear that the publication of that news could lead to her dismissal. Could any human being conceive the American President importing items that do not confirm to the revenue procedures?
Mrs. Jagan died long before this injustice in December 2010 but if she was alive, she would have ignored it and continue to lambaste the US.
This incident is just one of hundreds of egregious acts on the part of elected dictatorship in this tragic, sad, pessimistic, lugubrious territory. We lived with fascist caricatures in 2010 that made this country one of the worst banana republics in the history of the post-colonial map. We lived last year with the fascist farce of acknowledging the office of the state’s chief law officer who told the nation that he is a character who has a tendency to do illegal things.
This was such a horrible, terrible, disastrous blot on governance that any decent population and any competent opposition would have asked him to resign. We didn’t do that but last year we continued to show respect to this man and his office. Do you see my argument of the existence of tropical fascism in Guyana?
Maybe fascist leaders in other states were less heartless and bestial than what Guyana produced last year. The Government announced a warning to the nation about the potential deadly effects of spring tide. There was no visible media notice. Poor folks could only have known about this dire advice if they went on a computer and logged on to the internet and go to GINA’s web page.
The Government soon followed this up with a call to farmers to attend a meeting on the use of chemicals that can have toxic effects. Like the spring tide signal, farmers had to go on the internet. Isn’t this fascism? If it isn’t then what is dictatorship?
I was involved in an episode that showed us how far down the fascist road we have gone. A truck driver who assisted in transporting protesting school children to Georgetown from West Bank was arrested and given three charges. Then the state seized his vehicle. Just like that! His property was taken away arbitrarily. The Chief Justice returned his truck to him so he could continue to earn a living.
We have to stop this enumeration because space ran out but mention must be made of a post-mortem in which it was ruled that the alleged suicide of a superintendent of police was not – he couldn’t have killed himself given the way the bullet was lodged in him. The incident occurred in a police station. Nothing has come of it. Some people believe that tropical fascism will be elected this year in the upcoming elections. A thin line separates animals from humans.

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Silhouettes of dictatorship in 2010 in Guyana

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