The pension bill reveals intellectual bankruptcy

Nov 24, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Why did Desmond Hoyte separate himself from Hamilton Green? Because Hoyte, a man of class wanted to separate and segregate himself from “thuggism.” He wanted to construct a national force to contest the elections and wanted nothing to do with “thuggism.” and “rig-o-metrix”. He failed on this mission but history will always remember that he tried honorably. Why did Guyana’s most progressive and well known Pan-Africanist, Dr. Walter Rodney segregate himself from what Hammie represented? He took a stand against bigotry and did not compromise ever. He stood against ghetto attacks on our people because of their race and gender and religion and for that he paid a heavy price – his life. People like me will never let Walter’s struggle die. We shall not let bigots advance – not then, not now, not ever. So those who think I am attacking Hammie, they are wrong, I am attacking bigotry, “ghettoism”, “thuggism” and political violence that are being rewarded today with a G$20 million per year pension.
Let me share a dark part of our troubled history that even President Granger surreptitiously refuses to acknowledge. Only people who live in South Georgetown will know this history, which repeated itself again and again in the late 1970’s, in the 1990’s and again during the electoral riots in the 2001 elections that caused an NGO to issue a formal report to the world.
In the past, marauding bands of thugs carved a swathe of violence driven fear across the city. Many of them operated out of the YMCA in Albouystown. Does Hammie deny that he does not know who commanded people like “Coosi”, “Pointer”, “Booleegee”, “Whitee”, “Limpee”, “Tommy Borne”, “Smithee”, “Tinee Man”, “Sargeant”, and the “Marcus Brothers”? Does he deny not knowing the House of Israel thugs and being their “go to” person in the late 1970s? Does he deny his role in the post-election thuggery in 1992 the streets were filled with violent men who threw stones on the Elections Commission building on Croal Street?
It is extremely disrespectful for the Granger Administration to ask the under 35 years old to bend their backs and toil so that they can pay Hammie a G$20 million pension every year. Is this a continuation of the defilement of the Order of Roraima which was rewarded to an intellectual author of many of the country’s violent troubles? What next, the Order of Excellence for “FINE MAN” and “THE MARCUS BROTHERS” (posthumously) for long and dedicated service for high criminal activity?
I shall fight this sort of bigotry every step of the way. This Pension Bill reveals a deep sort of intellectual bankruptcy and ideological corruption on the part of our ruling politicians. Are Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan also prepared to fight this sort of bigotry every step of the way? Or have they morphed into domestic cowards and willing accomplices in this immoral transgression? Are Nagamootoo and Ramjattan prepared to sell all of their principles for position, perks and Prados?
Sasenarine Singh

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