Maxwell’s analysis of Ramkarran flawed

Jan 22, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Mr. M. Maxwell has developed a reputation for original thought which is sometimes more stimulating, refreshing and balanced than others who support the AFC.
But his letter in KN of 19-1-13 titled “Ramkarran fails to acknowledge that the PPP has become the PNC it so enduringly fears” has been most disappointing, as it is flawed.
What does Mr. Maxwell really believe?  First he applauds the respected former Speaker for “an outstanding piece” (The PPP’s enduring fears, SN, 14 January, 2013) but then he also says “it is devoid of the kind of complete analysis that Mr. Ramkarran is eminently capable of.” Unless Mr. Maxwell is privately familiar with Mr. Ramkarran’s other analyses, one is at a loss to know what he is comparing.  Maybe Mr. Maxwell is privy to things we do not know.
In querying the basis of Mr. Ramkarran’s fears, we find Mr. Maxwell informing us that, whether or not “Ramkarran asserts this is the case, it very likely this is how the PPP hierarchy thinks in Freedom House.” If theirs is sanctimoniousness that ideology is a cure for all problems, i.e., Guyana does not have a race problem, what explains their mistreatment of the longtime loyal PPP stalwart?
Who will awake Mr. Maxwell to inform him that Mr. Ramkarran is currently estranged from those who control Freedom House?  More proof of Mr. Maxwell’s disconnect is evident whereby he criticises the PPP’s ineptitude, that ”no party that lives in perpetual fear of another party, or anything for that matter, could make rational decisions, informed choices and do the right thing when necessary…”, but then he brandishes an incomprehensible logical linkage of a PPP not so much “trapped by an unhealthy paranoia” but more so with “a cultural mental illness!”
Is this not a below-the-belt insult to a significant section of Guyanese from such a prominent gentleman as Mr. Maxwell?  If befuddled, yet brace yourself for a complete surprise.  Sauciness (intended or not) is made honey palatable where he ostensibly takes the entire PPP to task for being “a party of weak-minded individuals and feeble souls who are perpetually afraid to define and defend them(selves), their constituency and their country. This impotency and weakness leads to selfishness and this focus on self, because of an impotency to act fearlessly, leads to corruption and self-aggrandizement.”
Whilst Mr. Maxwell may be somewhat correct on the first part, he is most illogically, again, off-base in his conclusions. With Mr. Maxwell’s echoing an awakening call on the PPP leadership, he momentarily pushed Mr. Ramkarran off the target range.
Look how race has even consumed the WPA. Mr. Maxwell can provide enlightening wisdom in adequately explaining how Dr Walter Rodney’s multiracial socialist WPA skeletons – dead men walking – have  become more rabidly Afrocentric advocates in open alliance  with the PNC/APNU crowd.
Can APNU’s recalibrated demands for equality in shared government, based solely on race, not present a significant dilemma for the PPP/C considering its consistent ideological emphasis on class?
The fears of PPP supporters based on their consistent ideological and sustaining cultural history and standards, and that of Mr. Maxwell’s obfuscations may well explain why he dismisses ”the PPP’s continued fear of the PNC as largely demented and race-driven.” Surprise?
Recall  it was Mr. Maxwell who also condemned  the PPP/C government with an inherent hesitancy and ”fear of doing the right thing in the first place, fixing the police force, (which) leaves this country a criminal safe haven and murderous and violent drug-trafficking paradise, and the Guyanese people pay(ing) the price daily for the gutlessness of the ruling party”?
In the same letter we find Mr. Maxwell surprisingly condemning the PPP as also ‘demented because the PNC has not turned out to be what the PPP caricaturized it as in 1992. We have had no civil war. The pro-PNC military and police have been very balanced. The last two elections have witnessed largely peaceful PNC protests”.  How much verbal gymnastics in unreality can we fathom?
Mr. Maxwell can be excused if he is unaware what is so rib-tickling laughable when he claims “many PPP supporters no longer actively fear the PNC. Some fear the PNC less. Others were not even born when the PNC ruled. Thus, we have the present PPP leadership hiding under desks at the mere mention of the PNC while many of their supporters simply do not fear the PNC”.
Providing any credible evidence on which he fixes all such fallacies would be most significantly educational. Go for it. Does Mr. Maxwell really believe that Mr. Ramkarran is intent on political suicide when he does not need the grief? Until the PPP becomes speedily reconciliated with addressing Mr. Ramkarran’s analysis, it seriously jeopardizes any future electoral success.  Maybe the PPP will quickly learn some lessons from the 2011 elections, unlike their 28 years of slow recalibration of not treating America as its enemy.
Sultan Mohamed

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