The combined opposition is playing a self-destructive game

Feb 01, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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There are two persons yesterday who spoke to me on the trap the PPP is setting for APNU and AFC in the tripartite talks. They are valuable personalities that both opposition parties cannot do without. They are Lincoln Lewis and Christopher Ram.
Last week, two other top Guyanese human rights voiced the same concern publicly in many forums. They are Dr. David Hinds and Mark Benschop.
I urge the AFC and APNU to listen to these four persons. I can say publicly that Gerhard Ramsaroop of the AFC is open to the persuasion of these four Guyanese.
What is the self-destructive game that the opposition may find itself in?
I start with the first meeting of the tripartite confabulation last Friday.  Khemraj Ramjattan has given me permission to write and quote him about my dismissal from UG which was raised last Friday.
President Ramotar was pressed by Ramjattan and Ramsaroop for a response to my contact termination. The President said the Guyana Government did not fire me. The opposition has to seek answers from the UG Council. Ramjattan then requested Gail Teixeira to address the issue. According to Ramjattan, Teixeira told the tripartite meeting that UG Council deliberations are confidential.
It would be an incredible situation if the opposition believes that the Government of Guyana has no control over UG. So if the NIS, Forestry Commission, NCN, Georgetown Hospital, Chronicle, Lands and Surveys, GuySuCo, among other public sector institutions devastate this country or abuse citizens, then these organizations must be approached by the opposition and the public for redress, not the Government.
If the opposition accepts this explanation by the Government leadership, it is accepting political masturbation.
If any of those Government Council members had voted for my contract renewal, they would have been in hot water.
Gerhard Ramsaroop has given me permission to publicize what went on in the tripartite talks on Monday about my dismissal. The Government has accepted a proposal from both AFC and APNU to look at changes in national institutions such as UG. The structure of the Council will be looked at. That should be done very soon.
Now what are the fears of Christopher Ram, Lincoln Lewis, Dr. David Hinds, Mark Benschop, and one should include Gerhard Ramsaroop?
The trepidation is that the tripartite forum could result in opposition demobilization. I unreservedly support that position. My heinous, fascist mistreatment at UG by the Government of Guyana has now been subsumed under discussion of restructuring national institutions. David Hinds was the first to warn Guyanese that if not checked the post-election Government will go on with the abuse of power.
What these gentlemen feel is that every act of state abuse will now find itself being subsumed under the microscope of the tripartite bedroom. So it is UG today. Tomorrow if it is the NIS, it goes to the bedroom. Next week, if the abuse visits the sugar workers, it goes to the bedroom.
Ram, Lewis, Hinds and Benschop are asking whether there will not be opposition activism outside the tripartite bedroom.
Ramsaroop told me that he supports activism while the tripartite talks are proceeding. But will we have opposition activism while the tripartite discussants are having their exchanges? This is the fear of our four names listed here.
Then there is the question of time. Again the fear is that the tripartite pathway will lead to interminable delays and the opposition will wait endlessly to have their babies delivered to them by the chief political midwife – the Government. While waiting, the opposition will lose valuable space, but most of all their constituencies.
We have a most mysterious situation that has now enveloped the opposition. This same opposition that has fought the PPP Government asking for consultation, is not consulting the Guyanese people.
The opposition talks to President Ramotar on wages and salaries. The TUC cries foul. It was not consulted. There is a committee at UG protesting what happened at the UG Council. It is called “Operation Save UG.” It consists of some the top names in the UG academic community. But the opposition didn’t ask this committee what it wants in relation to what the Council did.
So an opposition that wanted the Government since 1992 to consult it, is not consulting the stakeholders that want justice.
Time is marching on. The election was two months ago. David Hinds seems to be moving away from APNU. His words do not sound optimistic. Gerhard Ramsaroop feels that the AFC must preserve opposition activism. What do the Guyanese people feel? Well they may speak at a snap poll where the PPP may well get its majority.

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