Begin the beguine. Why not? This is Guyana

May 29, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Ms. Gail Teixeira said that she has written to APNU and the AFC on the resumption of tripartite talks. So, soon the Government and opposition are going to waltz once more. The dance and the dance floor collapsed because of the intervention of the budget. There has been a deluge of poisonous spill from Freedom House on the budget cuts by the opposition.
Now the advisor on governance to the Government, Ms. Gail Teixeira is at it again. She has sent an invitation for the beguine to begin once more. Let me digress and expatiate on the role of Gail Teixeira in the post 1980 politics of Guyana. It is Mr. Christopher Ram who is claiming that Ms. Teixeira along with others who are violating the constitution because she is a citizen of a foreign land, Canada.
Mr. Ram has urged me several times to write about this. Well if he is reading the column here, I have now mentioned it.
I was never open to Ms. Teixeira when I first met her in the eighties. The first impression I got which was distinct and vivid in my mind was this lady was an unmitigated Stalinist. As the years wore on, she shamelessly displayed the image of wanting to be another Janet Jagan, the most hard-lined politician in the history of West Indian politics. Mrs. Jagan came to see Teixeira as her protégée.
During the life of the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD), Teixeira represented the PPP. I was one of the WPA’s representatives. The two of us never got along. I know a Stalinist when I see one. One Sunday morning, Dr. Joshua Ramsammy and Tacuma Ogunseye drove up to my home on Hadfield Street, Wortmanville. They politely asked me to step down from the PCD because Teixeira complained about my attitude to her. The rest is now history.
It is one of the gargantuan ironies in politics since the ancient Greeks wrote about democracy that Gail Teixeira is an advisor to a government in the 21st century on governance. The political culture and political mind of this party apparatchik will never influence her psyche for her to have a comprehension of what freedom, justice, liberty and democracy mean.
Ms. Teixeira is in her sixties and in the forty years of her political life in Guyana has never shown any inclination to embrace democracy. In the remaining years of her political career, Ms Teixeira will frenetically keep the faith. When Mrs. Jagan died, the next day I wrote a column referring to her as the last of the infamous 20th century fascists. It is my opinion that Teixeira represents the last breed of 20th century Stalinists.
What do APNU and the AFC hope to achieve by the resumption of their dance with Teixeira, Ramotar, Ashni Singh and others?
When the dance floor first opened in February, most Guyanese thought that with a new political horizon that was shaped by the last general election, there would have been a sign of generosity because after all, the PPP is not in control of Parliament. The tripartite talks failed miserably because the PPP is not prepared to offer concessions. The budget imbroglio showed how vicious was the politics of the PPP.
Attempts were made to really dirty the clothes, faces and body of the opposition. Now the waltz is to be resumed, at the same venue of course – Office of the President (OP)
It was the editor of this newspaper, Adam Harris, who wrote last Sunday that he does not like to use the word stupid to describe others. I have no such hang-up. Too many stupid people have hurt me in the past and still do, so I can easily recognize stupidity in people. APNU and AFC are stupid people to walk into OP and dance once again with Teixeira. People must demand from these two parties an explanation of what they hope to achieve by the waltz.
Even the most elementary contents of democracy the PPP refuses to concede. What then do APNU and the AFC anticipate they will get? But then again, why not? All kinds of stupid things happen and are tolerated in this land. Isn’t this Guyana
Writer’s note. “Begin the beguine” is the title of one of the world’s most famous ballads composed by Cole Porter. After the Beatles, “Yesterday,” it may be the most re-done song in music history. A magically fantastic melody. See Sheryl Crow perform it in the recent biopic of Porter, “De-Lovely” (very sad movie). “Beguine” is a fast type of close up tango that originated in the French Caribbean. The word “beguine” is French creolese and means “white woman.” How appropriate, if you know what I mean.

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