To all Guyanese; this is who they are

Apr 21, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

In his address to his party supporters in Berbice on the occasion of the endorsement of Donald Ramotar as the PPP’s presidential candidate, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo told his audience to ignore what the private media say about the Government.
He explained that the media wants to define for party supporters who the PPP is. He told them not to let that happen. Unfortunately, the President didn’t utter one word as to what is the nature of the PPP.
Let us attempt to define the PPP not only for Berbicians but for all Guyanese and let us do so without resorting to any commentator, editorial in the press or critical letters in the newspapers. Let us ignore the private media and confine our facts and assessments on what the PPP has done and has not done as a party and as the party that forms the Government of Guyana. Let us start with the organization first.
From far right, to right wing to left wing, to capitalist to liberal to middle of the road, to even communist, organizations of all types around the world chose their leaders by direct voting of the membership. The PPP does not do that. To make it more frightening, the PPP leadership even frowned on secret balloting among themselves.
At that very meeting in Berbice, the President painted the PNC in terrible terms. But that very party was democratic enough to put their presidential contenders to face the Guyanese people, yes the Guyanese people in town hall meetings. I was at one of those events in a public school filled with hundreds of people who put all sorts of questions to the PNC’s candidates.
So did the media create this authoritarian instinct of the PPP? Or is this what the PPP is made of? From the PPP let us move to the President. Is it the media that designed the accusations of Ms. Varshnie Singh who the whole country thought was legally married to Mr. Jagdeo?
No, Ms. Singh called a press conference to talk about “psychological abuse” by the President. Did the media nickname one of the PPP leaders “Killaman” out of humour and mischief?
No! “Killaman” is on a continuous rampage that involves road accidents, spousal suicide, assault and battery, drunken stupor and his dramas are known to most, if not Guyanese. The tall tales of “Killaman” is about the PPP defining who its leaders are. The media do not have to do that. In other words, the PPP tells Guyanese all the time who they really are by putting on public display their flawed and disturbing psychology.
“Killaman” of course is a bizarre story. He has never been disciplined. And I say without fear of contradiction that not even Stalin and Hitler would have tolerated “Killaman.”
So how do you define the PPP’s hierarchy and its collective soul? Why go to the media when the evidence is so abundant. Central Committee member, Hydar Ally, wrote in the newspaper that the hallmark of a great leader is when he has the decency to offer an apology for mistakes made.
After reading that, countless observers thought that the kings of the PPP had undergone an attitudinal metamorphosis. It wasn’t to be. To date, President Jagdeo has not made even a quarter of an apology and he is about to conclude three American terms (twelve years) as President of Guyana.
We thought the sorry word was coming when he publicly chastised Mr. Yesu Persaud of being ignorant of the tax laws in relation to concessions given to his wealthy friend, Dr. Ramroop (Mr. Jagdeo told the media Ramroop is his close friend). It turned out that it was Mr. Jagdeo himself who was the ignorant one. The Government had to go to Parliament to legalize the generosities given to Ramroop.
Mr. Jagdeo never apologized to the famous Guyanese entrepreneur. No need to mention how many times other presidents and prime ministers have said sorry to their nations. Not Mr. Jagdeo. That is who he is. The media does not have to define him. He has defined himself. The media didn’t fictionalize his cussing out habits.
Finally, was it the media that invented tall stories about two Guyanese on separate occasions being given refugee status by the Canadian Government? The findings in those two cases by the Refugee Board of Canada make for frightening reading. The contents of those reports contain a definition of who the PPP is – a group of people that in the words of Marc Anthony in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar; “have lost all reason and have fled to brutish beast.”

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To all Guyanese; this is who they are

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