Non-stop flow of unnecessary mistakes

May 10, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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The Government announced that it will move the Independence Day ceremony from its intended site of the Stabroek Square to D’Urban Park. There are two dimensions to this decision that are important to reflect on. One is that it symbolizes the political mediocrities and political insensibilities that the APNU+AFC formation has intricately become embedded in. What kind of mental thinking went into the Stabroek Square choice in the first place?
How could any normally thinking politician in the APNU+AFC formation could have turned his/her mind to Stabroek Square? When it was juxtaposed against D’Urban Park, the disadvantages were as pellucid.
D’urban Park is brand new and costly. It was constructed for that purpose, meaning national events like anniversaries of important dates. Why leave a site you spent so much money to build to congest an already congested area?
The normal, rational mind has to know this. As soon as the Stabroek Square location was announced, the average person began to deride the decision and without exception, everyone was asking, why not D’Urban park.
Then there was the question of class politics. To go to Stabroek, you have to dislocate hundreds of poor people making a daily living in a poor country.
There are the vendors, mini-bus operators, taxi drivers and other related entities.  Why Granger, Nagamootoo and others couldn’t see this?
The average person saw this crass attack on poor people but Granger and Nagamootoo couldn’t see it. Or they just didn’t want to?  Who has to move to make way for the Independence Day celebrations if they are put at D’Urban Park?
The second dimension of the transfer announcement is that there was a rising crescendo of dissent against the original site. People were annoyed about it in the face of a D’Urban Park project that stands idle every day.  My opinion is that the power establishment feared a reenactment of the anti-parking meter and VAT on private tuition anger.
These two protests have generated considerable resentment against the APNU+AFC administration and both of these protests began when the coalition did not achieve even two years of power.
One has to connect these rising tides of unpopular decisions with the desire by the Alliance For Change to seek a relook at the Cummingsburg Accord. These unpopular directions are cascading like fountain water.
The first one was the salary increase as soon as power was attained in 2015 and the concatenation has not stopped, the latest one being the appointment of a serving trade union leader as the head (ag) of the Public Service Commission.
In my opinion, it would have been more plausible to go for someone who is not directly involved in union leadership.
How does one account for this series of non-mistakes. The traditional explanation is power. When one is at the centre of power he cannot and does not see reality rationally. Bharrat Jagdeo comes to mind.
There were long-serving leaders in the PPP who should have known that Donald Ramotar was not the best of candidates to lead the PPP into the 2011 general elections. But caught in the vortex of power, they couldn’t see that Ramotar was a liability.
The average citizen felt that Ralph Ramkarran would have clinched the slot. Most commentators felt the same. I am of the opinion that Ramkarran would have won the 2011 elections for the PPP if Ramotar was not chosen and if Jagdeo had taken a back seat. We all know how it turned out.
The trouble with leaders is that once they come into office, a hectic schedule prevents them from maintaining contacts they once had with the people. They lose that touch they once had when they were in opposition.
They lose their perception of reality. Take just one example – City Hall. The average Georgetowner has no respect for City Hall whom they feel is abusive, arrogant and insensitive. If PNC and AFC leaders were still on the ground as they were when they were in opposition, they would know that City Hall’s behavior poses an electoral threat to them.
Many citizens have asked me if the APNU and AFC leaders are not afraid they lose the 2020 elections. They point to City Hall, the concrete fence being constructed in front of OP, park-meters, VAT on private tuition, etc. My reply is traditional – when politicians have power they cannot see what we the average person sees until they wake up a morning and find they no longer have power.
APOLOGY; Mr. Robert Corbin called me to ask for a correction. He said he was never charged during the Hoyte administration. He resigned to allow police investigation. I regret the mistake. An apology is offered.

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