PPP leaders in the police station

Jan 22, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One wondered what went through the minds of so many victimized people when they read what Gail Teixeira said about the police summoning her to proceed to the SOCU office for questioning. Teixeira said the police refused to allow her go down at her own time, but insisted that she accompany them. Teixeira spoke in vexed tones.
There are hundreds of thousands of Guyanese who have no direct experience of how Teixeira and her hegemonic colleagues in the PPP leadership administered the affairs of Guyana. Had they, would they have any sympathy for people like Teixeira?
When Teixeira sat in front of that policeman and answered questions about the alleged illegal violations by NICIL, history was flowing like a river that burst its banks. Teixeira and her PPP acolytes dominated Guyana as if it were their private property. I did a column titled, “I sat eight feet from Teixeira.” It was about Gail Teixeira’s control of the Council of the University. The Vice-Chancellor at the time was Lawrence Carrington, on loan from UWI.
Teixeira addressed him directly, produced a shortlist of UG lecturers (headed by my name) and requested that he terminate their contracts. Lawrence refused. Teixeira and her PPP colleagues on the Council were in the majority and they did what Lawrence refused to do. This was how the PPP hegemons behaved in government.
It has to be one of the most sickening sights in the world today in any country to read what these people have to say about sacred concepts in political life like accountability, democracy, transparency, respect for the rule of law etc. Do the PPP supporters know how they governed Guyana?
There is a demagogic advocacy by Bharrat Jagdeo to Wales sugar workers to take to the streets in protest against the intended closure of the sugar estate. Jagdeo is trying to safeguard his political longevity rather than the sugar workers’ well-being.
It is ironic but sad that the sugar workers cannot see that it is the same Jagdeo who endangered their livelihood when he was President. It is sad that sugar workers whose future was imperiled by this same man have turned out to listen to him. It makes me wonder if Hitler had survived and wasn’t charged for war crimes, if the Germans would have turned to him to preserve their future.
We are living in curiously fascinating times. On the one hand Jagdeo is upping the tempo, on the other, PPP leaders are being questioned by SOCU for allegations of corruption in government. The two processes may appear diametrically opposite, but there is an interconnecting link.
Jagdeo could urge street protest because the illegalities he engaged in during his abuse of power have not rendered him accountable. The interrogations at the SOCU head office are not animating and galvanizing Guyanese because the efforts to investigate illegalities and corruption are moving too slow. Why should any country as poor as Guyana allow for the expenditure of over two million dollars to facilitate a small housing scheme for members of the ruling class (I refer to Pradoville 2)?
How long will it take to examine the paper trail? How labyrinthine is the paper trail that a case cannot be made out against Jagdeo and his cabal. Why is there no legal action against Priya Manickchand when there is a clear guideline that house lots bought at concessionary prices cannot be sold until ten years after?
One hopes and prays that the interrogation at SOCU head office is the beginning of justice for the people of this poor, Third World country. For the layman and laywoman, what happened to Gail Teixeira is called poetic justice. Gail Teixeira comes from a closely knit cabal in Freedom House that administered this country as if it belonged to them. The PPP regime from the time of Dr. Jagan’s death ruled this land as if it was destined for them to control. Mrs. Jagan was psychologically fixated on such a conceptualization.
I lived under the authoritarian presidency of Forbes Burnham, but he was sensible and strategic enough to concede vast political, social and territorial space to the opposition. Burnham allowed the countryside to be Cheddi Jagan’s fiefdom. Jagdeo conceded nothing. For him, Teixeira and others, there was nothing to concede. I remember the offspring of one of the PPP big wigs saying that Priya Manickchand thinks that Guyana is PPP’s territory.
If Manickchand, the newcomer, could have had those thoughts, what about Messrs. Luncheon, Jagdeo, Rohee, Ramotar and their acolytes, and the lady herself who had to go down to the police station while complaining?

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News