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Only fools debate dictators

Mar 25, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

 

 

Have you ever witnessed the police catching a thief in the act? Growing up in South Georgetown, I have seen those incidents literally countless times. It can be a hilarious situation. The thief never admits guilt. You will get endless cock-and-bull stories of how he got there and he didn’t know whose stuff it was even though the police caught him red-handed.
It is the same attitude dictators adopt when they are confronted with evidence of their heinous violations. It is stupid for opposition politicians to debate tyrannical power. Autocratic power will never reveal itself. It will mask its depravities in a charade of lies and fictions.
Take Gerry Gouveia. He thought he would score some much needed PR by challenging me to prove that he bought Duke Lodge for less than market value.
I accepted the duel, but Gouveia has hibernated. Three questions were asked of him and one condition was put on him. The man has run away.
First, I am waiting to hear his explanation of my accusation of conflict of interest in that he was on the Board of NICIL when he secured Duke Lodge.
Secondly, how much did he pay for the adjacent property? And thirdly, how much did Jagdeo (yes, Jagdeo) spend in refurbishing Duke Lodge before Gouveia was gifted the building?
His condition was that if I won, he would return Duke Lodge free to the State. My inflexible demand was that he must agree that if I am successful, Duke Lodge must be put on sale and the proceeds go to the families of the three treason accused. Gouveia has disappeared, so in that context I won the challenge.
I am not finished with Gouveia. I will have a lot to say in the near future on the history of Vic Puran, who has agreed to be the prosecutor in the treason case. I am putting Puran on notice.
Finally, Gouveia publicly stated that “I have no objection to NICIL releasing any information concerning the tendering process and sale of Duke Lodge.” Gouveia thinks I am a jackass, but I could say the same of other people. Gouveia knows perfectly well that NICIL would not release the record.
I went to the NICIL authorities and was told that Mr. Gouveia cannot authorize them to release any document belonging to NICIL and that all NICIL transactions are confidential and the Duke Lodge file is NICIL’s property not Gouveia’s. Gerry Gouveia was just making a public spectacle of himself.
He knew NICIL would not have offered me the papers.
I write this column in response to what President Jagdeo announced. He said that he has encouraged his Ministers to debate the opposition publicly on radio and television. He went on to state; “We are ready to debate with them.”
Why would the opposition debate Ministers of the Government? For what purpose? Is this what the people of Guyana want? Is this what the opposition is looking for? The opposition will come out the losers because they are going to meet a stone wall. Winston Brassington has set the tone. Mired in a million controversies, Brassington recently intoned that he did his job at NICIL with professional competence.
Gail Teixeira is going to watch her opposition debater in the face and say, “In Parliament you guys are dictators; we are the democrats.” Teixeira will deny every single wrongdoing the PPP Government has perpetrated on this tragic nation since 1992.
Anil Nandlall said it all. In pleading to the Chief Justice for proportionality in the parliamentary committee, he said the PPP’s purpose is not to dominate and control the committees. Extend that to the entire territory of Guyana, PPP Ministers are going to face their debaters and tell them in the most barefaced manner: “We have never dominated this country.”
Is this the kind of political masturbation the opposition is going to sit down and watch at in front of the television cameras?
The most difficult one to take will be when the subject moves to the state-owned media. I can see Teixeira saying that the Chronicle and NCN are independent media houses and that the opposition has access to them.
I can see Roger Luncheon in his monotonous tones saying it was the people of Linden themselves that requested to see NCN only and didn’t want other channels in the mining town.
But why are the President and his Ministers interested in debate with the opposition rather than engage APNU and AFC and other stakeholders on changes in policy-making in the messy cup Jagdeo left Guyana.

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