Those outrageous treason charges

Jan 05, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The tranquility of the festive season which was disrupted by treason charges brought by the police against Major Bruce Munroe, his wife Carol Ann Munroe, and businessman and ex army Officer Leonard Wharton has important political significance for Guyana.
Guyanese must understand why the regime has proceeded on this dangerous path and what it means for Guyana. In this letter I will address two aspects of these charges: the timing, and the racial/ political implications.
We are told by the regime that these charges are the result of investigation into acts of arson on the Ministry of Health and other buildings owned by the people of Guyana for which other persons have been arrested and placed before the courts  – readers please note – arson and not treason.
These trials are pending.  However, we now have the outrageous situation of another set of persons who are alleged to be linked/connected to the same crimes and to the persons who were previously accused of arson, being slapped with charges of treason – to wit – attempting to overthrow the Jagdeo government.
I am contending here that these bogus treason charges are nothing but an orchestrated conspiracy by the Office of the President, for purely political reasons.  These charges, coming a few months before scheduled general elections in Guyana are sinister and reminiscent of the timing of the state-sponsored execution of opposition and African political activist, Brother Ronald Waddell, a few months before the last general elections.
Many, including this writer, had expressed the view that the timing and motivation of this heinous crime – Ronald Waddell’s execution – was carried out with the sole and explicit intention of driving fear in the African leadership and community to ensure their participation in the elections – thereby ruling out any struggle for constitutional reform to change the political system before the elections. The regime’s fear tactics worked and our political leadership rushed headlong into the elections. The result is history.
Having resorted to execution of one of its foremost political foes on the last occasion elections were held, the rulers could not once again adopt the method of political assassination in the lead up to the 2011 elections to achieve its goal of subjugating the African community and its leadership and on this occasion the wider political opposition, including those elements inside the PPPC who disagrees with Jagdeo’s style of governance and his ongoing relationship to the criminal cabal in the society.
They have therefore invoked the treason “bogey” as the preferred method of political terror to deal with the widening net of opposition it is faced with.
State conspiracy very often exposes contradictions both in the society and the political process. To date all of the persons who have been charged by the PPP regime for treason and for engaging in acts to bring about regime change have been Africans.
If we are to take the government’s claims seriously ((I say If, because I have not taken them seriously nor have I ascribed any merit
to them) we can conclude that there is a growing African insecurity as a community and efforts are being made by some in that community to redress the situation.
These recent treason charges cannot and will not stand up to judicial scrutiny. However, in their haste to impose them on the nation and without being prompted to do so, the Jagdeo regime without realizing the significance of their actions, are now admitting to what others in the society have been saying for a long time i.e. (1) there are clear indications that there is an urgent need to find a political solution to the political/racial crisis in the society; (2) the contradictions in the society are very deep; (3) that half a century of winner take all politics has demonstrated that the future of the nation will only be secured by a new governance system based on shared governance; and (4) as popular as they have laid claim to be, by their own admission there are people in the society who find their presence repugnant and want to get rid of them.
I am saddened by the fact that at this historic juncture, electoral opportunism by the political opposition is playing the regime’s game and will only benefit the rulers and not the masses.
I wish to reiterate, here, that what is needed is a constitutional struggle to reform the constitution to institute shared governance before the general elections.
Finally, I believe that Jadego’s contempt for the African community, the political opposition, his party and the nation is understandable because it reflects the natural political behavior of a dictator in his dying days, who engages in political bullyism with no consideration of the consequences of his recklessness.
However, the apparent impotence of the African leadership and the political opposition leave much to be desired. We seem not only unable but, more importantly, unwilling to put limits to the suffering of our people and the nation.
I believe that the time has come for those who aspire to hold high political office to understand that nothing comes; nothing is won except by hard struggle.  Put the people’s interest first. It is time to turn the political tide against the dictator.
Tacuma Ogunseye

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