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Cheddi’s Orwellian creations are fighting for survival
If you have been following my columns the past umpteen years, you would know two disasters periodically visit me. I normally die when I read about the little fascists in the PPP speaking about democracy.
Secondly and being startled by these discoveries, I would drop hot coffee on my legs when I read these things during breakfast.
Recently, I had another episode of misfortune.
This time it wasn’t one or the other. I was a victim of both. The coffee again burnt the flesh off my leg then I died on Thursday morning. The cause of death was a letter in the Thursday edition of KN by PPP stalwart, Navin Chandarpal.
Titled, “Secret ballot and syndromes” the letter writer took a gargantuan swing at his president, Mr. Jagdeo, a president he has lived with in the PPP for twelve years. Strange that now that Chandarpal’s President has about five months of his reign left, Mr. Chandarpal has discovered that his president may be a practitioner of the Burnham syndrome (Chandarpal’s words).
I almost captioned this column, “Eureka! Eureka! Navin discovers democracy.” Mr. Chandarpal to date has penned the most direct criticism of President Jagdeo. It is obvious that Cheddi’s children are fighting. But what are they fighting for? Their own political survival and that of Cheddi’s party that brought them into social existence.
It is generally said that the fight inside the PPP against Mr. Jagdeo is led by Mr. Chandarpal and the GAWU leader, Komal Chand. What is important to note is the reason for this chasm. Those who think that Mr. Jagdeo has gone into terrible authoritarian directions have shown sympathy with both men. There seems to be some admiration for Messrs Chandarpal and Chand.
When one digs deeper, the division is more connected with practical politics and not democracy or constitutional liberalism (to use the term of American scholar and CNN presenter, Fareed Zakaria). Chandarpal and Chand are not democrats and have no interest in restructuring the PPP.
Examine the timing of Chandarpal’s letter and the increasingly frequent strikes of GAWU and one finds that they have come at a time when most Guyanese think that the PPP is in election trouble. Where were Chandarpal and Chand before the second half of 2010? They were part of the democratic centralism of the PPP the past thirty years.
They were part of the PPP’s administration since Mr. Jagdeo became president twelve years ago. Chandarpal and Chand were shameless supporters of authoritarian rule since 1999.
But dictatorship has no logic and now its irrational nature scares Chandarpal and Chand because the morbidity of dictatorship is jeopardizing the very existence of the PPP.
I once met Mr. Chandarpal at a reception UG held for some UWI personnel at the Georgetown Club.
I bluntly asked him how he could accept the farce that was taking place at UG with the continued imposition of party people at the helm at UG. I told him that it was destroying the institution.
Visibly upset, Mr. Chandarpal simply walked away. Mr. Chand is a member of the Board of GWI.
After learning that under Karran Singh, only certain types of workers were being fired and that could create instability in a plural society like Guyana, I called Chand on the phone to protest the heartless dismissal of a senior functionary with 35 years service. With a polite tone, Chand said, “I am not talking to you” and he put down the phone.
Chandarpal and Chand are in trouble because sugar workers have turned against the PPP.
Over two hundred strikes occurred spontaneously in the sugar industry since 1992. These were not organized by GAWU.
Chand and GAWU are becoming increasingly irrelevant. To retain their political existence they have to tell sugar workers that the cause of their dilemma is Mr. Jagdeo, not the PPP.
What Chandarpal and Chand are doing is trying to save GAWU and the PPP by distancing themselves from Mr. Jagdeo.
This is what the chasm is all about. It has spilled over into the election arena with Chandarpal and Chand supporting Ramkarran’s candidacy or alternatively Moses Nagamootoo.
But we may be in for some surprises. GAWU is not without its skeletons. Its purchase of prime real estate below market rate was facilitated by the Jagdeo Government. GAWU today has the most resplendent head office for a trade union anywhere in the CARICOM region.
Dem boys seh knack gat knack back. If you want to fight down Uncle Jagdeo, de maan gun fight back. De maan might bring up de GAWU building in Kingston and ask for de right payment.
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