Guyanese love to criticize the opposition, but they must look at themselves

Dec 13, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Three well known civil society activists have spoken out against what they call an unsatisfactory struggle against the PPP since the historic 2011 general election results. There are well known financial analyst, Ramon Gaskin, Mr. Christopher Ram on his television programme, Plain Talk, and Leonard Craig.
We can add many more to the list; me included. But while I have been critical of the less pugnacious opposition parties in Guyana, I have bitterly lamented the dead society that Guyana has become. Guyanese love to criticize the opposition, but they do so from the comfort of their bedrooms.
If this columnist has to document the comments he gets from Guyanese from all walks of life who ‘badmouth’ the Government, they will literally fill volumes. What is produced here is just the tip of the iceberg.
I will start with the most recent. On Wednesday morning about 9:45, I was going home after a brief moment of shopping on Water Street. I normally have a later breakfast than most people in this world. My first meal for the day would be about 11:00 hours. I didn’t have breakfast that morning, so I was hungry and stopped at German’s for the famous spilt-pea soup.
Yes, I know I had written before that I was boycotting German’s, but let bygones be bygones. I was at the table enjoying my soup when this gentleman shouted across the hall while he was at the cashier; “Freddie, you need to write about Mandela and compare him to the nonsense going on in this country.”
When I was about to leave, I went to his table and said to him, “For someone who dislikes what is happening to your country, you have to keep up with what is taking place.”
He looked bamboozled. I said that I have done three articles from Sunday right up to Wednesday on Mandela and compared him to what is taking place in Guyana. He was speechless. I saw the guilt on his face when I told him he has to read the newspapers to find out what is happening in his country and where it is going. This gentleman does not even read the newspapers. Are you going to expect him to come out on the streets?
Monday midday, I had just come out of the Hot and Spicy restaurant on Albert Street. As I entered my car, this gentleman came up to me and was in an emotional mood about the need to have a change of government. He went on and on. Then in a style untypical of me, I quietly said to him, “I have been in all the protests against this government for the past five years and I have never seen you even holding a picket.” He gave me a gargantuan smile that was supposed to mask his embarrassment. He promised me he will show up the next time.
Here is the final example that will irritate you. Most readers will know the name Frederick Collins. He is one of the founders of Transparency Institute – Guyana. Mr. Collins and I are on the same e-mail thread. There was an intellectual exchange and another friend sent off a mail castigating Mr. Collins for writing too much about intellectual stuff while the struggle is on the streets. Yes, those were his words.
But this friend of mine who circulates among African rights activists has never been seen in the picket line. So shocked was I with the words he used that in front of his face I mentioned it to Tacuma Ogunseye and Elton McCrae of ACDA.
So what is my point? We cannot criticize the opposition for lack of passion when we ourselves do not have energy, passion or even conviction. The opposition parties in this country are operating in a dead society. No citizen of Guyana would have the gall to say that UG is alive. Our academics at that institution are the number one group of sheep in the world. The UG students are the most cowardly and silent lot you can find anywhere in the world.
The Guyana Human Rights Association is an organization no one ever hears about. The Guyana Consumers Association is dead. We have a Bar Association in Guyana, but where is it?
Every conceivable bestial act committed against Guyanese by the Government is greeted with silence. Lesser cruelties will galvanize the peoples of most countries. The fact is the PPP Government knows that Guyanese are sheep. This explains their daily excesses. The opposition parties are not superhuman people.

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Guyanese love to criticize the opposition, but they must look at themselves

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