Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Mar 12, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Quite often, people would say to me; “Maan, Fredaay, yuh ain’t writing about Ramkarran and Jeffrey; wheh deh bin all de time?” What they mean is that they would like to hear my views on Ramkarran who served the PPP for fifty years and Jeffrey, who was a PPP Government Minister for 18 years.
It is the staggering length of time these men spent within the edifice of the PPP and the PPP Government that startles you. “My God” has to be your exclamation when you hear that Ramkarran was in the PPP for fifty years. Based on what he writes, he should have created history in Guyana by leading Guyana into “The Promised Land.”
A friend of mine from teenage days, Malcolm Harripaul, does not want to hear Ramkarran’s name. He thinks people like Ramkarran made the PPP into the monster that it is. Can’t say I disagree with Malcolm. To think that Jeffrey worked for eighteen years with the PPP Government as a Minister then when asked to leave his Ministerial portfolio by President Jagdeo and be assigned as the Ambassador to Suriname, wrote a letter in the Stabroek News explaining that his request for additional resources was refused so he departed from the Government.
I have not adversely commented on this page on the political evolution and political sins of Ramkarran and Jeffrey, and the persona non-grata status that both gentlemen have been conferred within certain parts of Guyana. (In some villages I visit, people speak badly of them). And I have not done so for one particular reason, which is more strategic than moral.
I believe that it is not wise to be seen criticizing these two men when they are part of the widespread commentary on the wrongdoing of the PPP regime. Why should I do that when I have got other things to write about? I know I am on untenable moral grounds and for that I apologize and will not defend my invalid moral dilemma.
But I do admit that both Ramkarran and Jeffrey are bordering on hypocrisy, in that Ramkarran writes nothing on the experience he had with destructive forces inside the PPP and he shamelessly avoids telling us what happened at the meeting that caused him to resign and what process saw Ramotar getting the presidential slot for the 2011 national election.
Jeffrey avoids discussing Jagdeo, but takes frequent potshots at Burnham. Isn’t that dishonest? I admit too that if people insist that I must analyze the “Road to Damascus” politics of Ramkarran and Jeffrey, I will.
Basdeo Panday who came here last week and talked hypocritical nonsense is in the same category with Ramkarran and Jeffrey. The analysis applied to the two Guyanese would be perfectly relevant to Panday.
The former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago came here and intoned that CARICOM may be dying. He didn’t tell us that he was one of the persons that did nothing for CARICOM while it was on the sick bed and he was the head doctor at the hospital.
What Panday knows but couldn’t be bothered with was that when he was Prime Minister of one of the richest small states in the world, per capita, he did nothing to strengthen CARICOM, to change the billions of American dollars in imports (Panday’s Government spent more than ten million American dollars to host Miss Universe contest) and for Guyana.
Guyana got concessionary oil terms from Hugo Chavez; not Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
By declaring that CARICOM is dying, Panday unwittingly acknowledged that he was both a political and intellectual failure. It was Prime Minister Patrick Manning who initiated a blueprint for closer cooperation and eventual integration between Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana termed the ‘Manning Initiative’.
Did Panday come up with any ideas for strengthening the integration movement? At least Manning tried.
Panday’s hypocrisy knows no limit. As PM, he campaigned for Trinidad to be the headquarters of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). But as PM he refused to campaign among Trinidadians for Trinidad to join the Appellate level. As opposition leader, he expounded on ideas of national government. When he won power, he dumped the thought.
Finally, what is behind his call for closer ties between Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad with eventual closer economic integration with South America?
The answer is race. Basdeo Panday is one of the purest Hindu ideologues in this part of the world. In fact, Hindu supremacist may not be a misnomer if applied to him. Mr. Panday is not exactly a believer in multi-racial politics and may be happier with Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname becoming closer for obvious reasons.
Dec 19, 2024
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