Why the PPP gets away with excesses

Apr 10, 2014 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Do you know the police can arrest you for buying foreign ice cream? There is no doubt about it; the young population of this country if asked which President was a terrible leader would say Bharrat Jagdeo. Given our demographic structure, they are too young to know that President Burnham was far from democratic.
In fairness to Mr. Burnham, I lived under his reign and had caustic encounters with him and I suffered but one has to be the epitome of intellectual depravity to argue that Forbes Burnham was more extreme than Jagdeo.
Any scholarly comparison, I believe, would have Mr. Burnham coming out far better than Mr. Jagdeo. As a layman and a trained academic, I believe Mr. Forbes Burnham was a better President than Mr. Jagdeo
What is it about Guyana that allowed Mr. Jagdeo such gigantic latitudes for dictatorial behaviour that even the Ramotar presidency enjoys? Take the madness that came out of the mouth of Minister Irfaan Ali. If such words were said in any other Caribbean country, there would have been angry denunciations. Mr. Ali is quoted in this newspaper as telling one of its reporters that the advice of the government to commuters is not to pay a $20 minibus increase and that they must take the bus number to the police.
Obviously, the government had to inform the police of the situation, why else would the commuter go to the police. What Mr. Ali and the Government of Guyana have done is to proclaim that they don’t care about laws and to make it more horrible, they order the police to do the same thing.
There is no law under which a minibus driver can be arrested for hiking his fare. The reality is that minibus fares are not regulated by law. You can call the driver unreasonable or refuse to pay him but he cannot be arrested.
To think that the government can openly embrace such lawlessness and the media, human rights community, Bar Association, opposition parties and the society in general stood silent is graphic proof of why dictators get away with their horror shows.
You may think it is a joke but after what Irfaan Ali said, who knows what next is coming. Maybe if the Government has an ice-cream manufacturer it favours, he can report you to the police for patronizing the foreign version. Maybe the police can arrest you if you choose to support a football match at another venue instead of the one the government would like you to attend at another ground.
If you find these examples absurd then how do you account for what Ally said about the minibus fare?
What Irfaan Ali did explains why Jagdeo became such an invincible dictator. So let us answer the question why this country allowed Jagdeo to do what ever he wanted and why we are now silent about the Jagdeo pattern that Ramotar has adopted? The answer is as old as time itself.
Consider Hitler of Germany, Amin of Uganda, Doe of Liberia, and Bush of the US.
Hitler committed one atrocity after another and there was no national outcry. The result was psychological invincibility. Hitler felt that he couldn’t be touched. The same applied for Amin and Doe. After Bush began to assault American democracy using the war on terror as his reason, the American people refused to check him until it was too late.
When they woke up they found that American democracy was shaken to its foundation by the extremism of Bush.
Jagdeo began to take small tyrannical steps after the 2001 elections when he felt that Mrs. Jagan could no longer give him instructions. From 2001 to 2006, Mr Jagdeo had a taste of untamed power and he saw the society’s fear and compliance. Invincibility began to creep in.
Mr. Jagdeo knew he had become a powerful president whose authority was unchecked. Then came another victory in 2006 and untamed power became absolute power. As the years wore on absolute power became omnipotent power.
By the time we reached 2011 when was time for him to demit office, Jagdeo had become the first absolute dictator in the history of the British West Indies. There was nothing Mr. Jagdeo wanted he could not do and he did it.
Where President Burnham was sacred because he wondered what the PPP, WPA, Catholic Standard, would say or do if he overdid it, there was no such hesitancy under the Jagdeo presidency.
By the time he left office, Mr. Jagdeo had virtually destroyed the weak pillars of Guyanese democracy inherited from the British in 1966. Will we allow Ramotar to copy Jagdeo? The truth is, we are doing so.

Retraction:  In yesterday’s issue of this newspaper, I made a gross error in judgement. I made a harsh comment against the Director of Medical and Professional Services. I questioned his professionalism. I hasten to revoke that comment.
I did not say that “in my opinion” he leaves a lot to be desired. I made a bold statement. I apologise.

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