He met and talked with fools and clowns like himself

Aug 15, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

There is a PPP stalwart that has served in very important state positions for twenty-three consecutive years since the PPP won the 1992 elections until it lost the 2015 poll. This man was a top, trusted mandarin in the PPP government for the twenty-three years it ruled Guyana. He wrote in a published letter recently that he went to the US, and met Guyanese who wouldn’t mind coming back, but they have trepidation about the return of authoritarian rule.
And guess what period they are referring to – only that time when the PNC was in power – 1964 – 1992. It means that they treat the 23 years of PPP’s hegemony as democratic. This is the second time I have seen a statement like this that is a shameless denial of one of the most controversial periods in the life of this country. I first read words to that effect from the prominent Hindu priest, Aksharananda.
What bothers me is that the two parties in power let these sickening distortions flow in the media without an in-depth, factual, analytical rebuttal. Two reasons explain this. Those who can devastate the nonsense and danger peddled by Aksharananda and this PPP stalwart (I will not name him; the message not the messenger, I’m dealing with) are too busy in their state jobs and cannot find the time.
Someone like Aubrey Norton could easily pen a penetrating dismissal of this man’s alternative facts. The other reason is maybe they think that such people are clowns who do not deserve a polemical mention.
People read the letter pages and historians need to eliminate every instance of nasty propaganda by the fallen PPP mandarins. Comparing the Jagdeo regime with the Hoyte era is like matching up a village cricketer with Chris Gayle.
Hoyte had his political superficialities about him. He was not strong on Guyana’s sociology and the contours of our history, but Hoyte developed values when he became President that both Jagdeo and Ramotar could never and will never match. Desmond Hoyte was a decent leader who was prepared to discipline his subordinates for moral, legal and political lapses.
There is no doubt in my mind that Forbes Burnham was an oligarchic leader with little tolerance for opposition to his rule. But he had redemptive qualities, one of which was nationalism that was directed to the elevation of the lower income classes. Forbes Burnham would never have tolerated his friend, a businessman, descending onto a work site and instructing his contractors to detain and harass NIS inspectors.
One of Jagdeo’s friends did that, and it was only media pressure that caused the police to charge him. God knows what became of that case. Forbes Burnham was too cultivated to allow accusations of domestic abuse to be made against him, the type President Jagdeo’s common-law wife leveled against Jagdeo when he was the sitting president.
But I return to this fool of a man who had the temerity to write that the people he met in the US want to see the government initiate constitutional reform that would lead to democratic and inclusionary governance. Are there such idiots in the US with such imbecilic mentalities? If there are, then they surely should be targets for Trump. What happened to constitutional reform and democratic and inclusionary governance during the 23 years when this man and his party ran amok over Guyana?
Aren’t those Guyanese that he met, and who want to come back home, concerned about the NIS pension funds – some ten billion (not millions but billions) – that Jagdeo threw away in wasteful ventures? In 2013, NIS paid out more money than it received due to depleted reserves.
Aren’t they concerned about the largest investment in Guyanese history that flopped under the PPP – the Skeldon factory that cost 200 million American dollars? Where were these people living during the reign of Jagdeo and Ramotar – August 1999 – April 2015?
This PPP stalwart writes that he spoke to Guyanese who are fearful of the return of bad rule in Guyana. Well, what kind of rule did we have when journalists were attacked and brutalized? A young mother was charged for treason on non-existent evidence. Private newspapers were selected for vindictive treatment.
Of course there is the other side of the coin. Party supporters, without any visible income, were given state jobs and ended up having prodigious wealth. One hopes that the charges will follow soon, so these clowns the fool spoke to can get a glimpse of history.

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He met and talked with fools and clowns like himself

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