My friend Rohee challenges the obvious

Apr 21, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The written word can evoke many reactions. Different people see things differently and they react according to how they see things. Indeed I have been commenting on many things, including, most recently, the reaction to the granting of radio frequencies and cable licences to some people.
It has not escaped my notice that people have added the race card to this, but they are poor spinners. They claimed that the licences were issued to Indians, Blacks and one Portuguese. President Donald Ramotar had himself said that these licences were granted across the political divide. However, a casual examination would show that one group got five frequencies at a time.
I do not think that there was an ethnic consideration here. Rather the selection may have been based on political considerations. And to state the obvious, the allocations were extremely lopsided, something that the casual observer, except the most sycophantic, would notice.
As fate would have it, Jamaica has put a price on its cable, something that former President Bharrat Jagdeo seemed to overlook and something that people have been talking about for a long time. These facts caused me to wonder at the reaction of people to adversities. They brought back memories of what was as far as six decades ago and even further.
As a reporter I have come into contact with people who have been besieged with many adversities. I would ask them if they sought the attention of the authorities and I would get the same negative answer. This and other things they said made me realize that they have been beaten into submission. I can’t be wrong.
I now turn my attention to Minister Clement Rohee. I am glad that he reads my columns, unless somebody actually brought this particular column to his attention. He pens a missive to the press and makes some interesting conclusions.
He writes, “Harris further went on to disparage the working people of Guyana by stating that they only “talk” and do not act.  And even when they do such actions are “sporadic” and at best “negligent”
Harris then concluded his article by saying that “protest is something of the past”. And in a subtle but clearly agitational manner, Harris suggests that the political parties “are hard pressed to bring out their supporters to protest anything”.
I don’t make subtle hints. I say what has to be said. Then Rohee discerns that I was agitated. Obviously he sees things political in what I write and it must be because I have pointed out the reaction of the public to some of the things over which his government presides.
Not so long ago the crowds would have been outside his office when the political opposition moved a vote of no confidence against him. And they would have gone to his home, too, as they did in the past.
Surely, he too must have come to realize that the days of protest are over.
There has always been this fear of criticism and challenge by the government. I distinctly recall Janet Jagan talking about “this fledgling democracy.’ Even when there were screw-ups she would beg for patience in light of the fledgling democracy. Rohee was there and it would seem that he continues to languish in this era of the fledgling democracy. For me to examine national reaction is to challenge the fledgling democracy and attract Rohee’s attention.
I do not need to weep over the absence of protest action. In fact, I am glad when there is none because peace prevails. But I would be as President Donald Ramotar said, “a jackass” to sacrifice people’s right for what they deserve at the altar of peace.
The people of Linden protested the increase in their electricity rates, the residents of Agricola protested the killing of a youth in the village and as Rohee so vividly recalls, the people of Plaisance protested the installation of a communication tower in their playground. Those are legitimate reasons for protest and they all achieved their ends.
I have not missed the protests against the allocation of the radio frequencies, but these have largely passed the people who should have been granted their radio licences. Against this background I sought to ascertain the reason for the apparent apathy and concluded from what these people said, that nothing will change. I had to write about this, much to the annoyance of Rohee.
And people believe that nothing will change because of the arrogance demonstrated by people like Rohee and those in the government, of which he is a part. I knew a Rohee, equally arrogant some years ago. He was no stranger to protest and often could be seen in any protest against the so-called excesses of the Burnham government.
I was there one day when the police arrested him. He refused to walk and they had to lift him all the way to the Brickdam police station with Rohee fighting and squirming all the way. Thankfully those policemen had eaten and were relatively fit.  I admired his tenacity. Rohee would not like to see anyone emulate his action when they oppose something. And that is his arrogance.
There is something else that I think he should recognize. I do not have to telegraph a message to APNU and the AFC. I have access to these people. It would be a waste of time for me to write something to these people when I can easily call them or meet with them. That would be akin to writing a note to my paramour for a pleasurable activity when all I have to do is reach over to her.
It is a fact that people worry about their job because the government has created conditions of reduced disposable income for the average person. And in case Rohee has not noticed, those people who once protested outside his Ministry no longer do so.

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