The world has no greater tragedy than Guyana

Oct 09, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I stood as a young man and watched the total opposition unfolding against the rule of President Forbes Burnham. The individuals, groups and organizations were countless. Everything Burnham did was denounced, met with a picket exercise or a challenge in courts. President Forbes Burnham was virtually hunted down by large sections of the Guyanese society.
In today’s Guyana, Forbes Burnham has become to be portrayed as a mini-dictator compared to what has evolved here since 1992. In today’s Guyana, a big dictator is met with silence. And you ask the question; “Where is my country? Where are the ideas that we used against Burnham? Where is the humanity and decency with which we fought Burnham?
The answer to those questions is that Guyana was, is and will always be a tragedy.
It is too late for Guyana? Is this country destined to always be an ostracized dictatorship?
The forceful removal off the air of CNS TV Channel 6 constitutes a fascist violation that is so evil that it dictates the invocation of conscience and demands our most dedicated energy to fighting it. There isn’t a dimension of this nastiness that has an arguable space. From the start to the eventual shape the episode took, this is fascism that must not be accepted and must be confronted with all the passion of every decent citizen of this country.
Here are the dimensions. First, the legal propriety of the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) that made the ruling against Channel Six is questionable. The opposition withdrew its support for the entity shortly after the last year of the life of the opposition leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte. Since then, the ACB’s credibility has been in tatters.
Then came the appointment of Mr. Evan Persaud as its chairman, at a time when he was facing dismissal from UG over use of sexually explicit language in the classroom.
The station was called upon by the ACB to defend itself against words spoken on the channel by Tony Vieira against Juan Edghill. At no time, did Vieira urge violence against the State, exhort citizens to violence or attack the person of the President himself. Mr. Vieira denounced Edghill.
A libel action was filed in the court. From that moment on, the ACB couldn’t decide on sanction because the issue was now before the courts. More importantly, why should Channel Six be closed down over statements made against Edghill, when Edghill has asked the court to award damages of over one hundred million dollars against CN Sharma?
Not a word about this legal grey area has come from the Bar Association.
Thirdly, why not a monetary penalty? Why not a month’s suspension? Why not a sanction just after the ACB made its ruling? Why did Mr. Jagdeo wait until less than two weeks before the announcement of the date for elections to shut down the broadcaster? The answer is to weaken the election campaign.
When a survey was taken recently in Jamaica, it was revealed that a majority of those questioned wished that Jamaica remained under colonial rule. If a similar poll is done here, the sentiments would be greater than what obtained in Jamaica.
Mr. Jagdeo has assumed powers that are greater than the colonial governor. His Ministers have too. Mr. Jagdeo has suspended a television station and there cannot be any recourse, even to the courts. This man has that power, a power that if exercised by the colonial governor against a coloured station in British Guiana would have brought the anti-colonial political parties and trade unions out on the streets.
Two of the famous anti-colonial activists from the forties are still with us – Eusi Kwayana and Ashton Chase. The latter is the lawyer for Bishop Edghill in the court case involving the station.
Mr. Jagdeo’s ministers exercise the authority the colonial governor had. An example is the dismissal of Mr. Ivor English, then head of Transport and Harbours Department and his deputy. There was no inquiry, no disciplinary hearing. Remember, Mr. Jagdeo reminded us of the colonial governor when he told air traffic controllers that if they had picketed him at the airport tarmac on his return from New York, he would have fired them. So we end where we began.
Where are the conscience, decency and energy this country displayed when President Burnham was in power? And remember that Burnham has become a boy scout compared to the fascist generals or the post-colonial governors that are running amok. The researchers have long concluded that Guyana is a permanent tragedy. Maybe we should start supporting Tacuma Ogunseye. I know I would.

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