10 LITTLE WORDS

Oct 29, 2017 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

---

By Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo

August 9, 2017 marked three years since a motion of No-Confidence was tabled in Guyana’s National Assembly for the first time in our history. That motion contained 10 little words: “That this National Assembly has no

confidence in the Government”.
Those 10 little words shook this nation and ultimately triggered a change of government for only the second time in post-independent Guyana.
That historic motion was moved by me and seconded by Catherine Hughes on behalf of the Alliance for Change, i.e. after we were assured of support from our fellow opposition member, APNU. At that time, the Opposition held a one-seat majority in the National Assembly.
The motion of No Confidence was laid against the Donald Ramotar-led PPP/C government, which had become unpopular, corrupt and most incompetent.

LET’S REBOOT OUR MEMORY

I have decided to revisit the No-Confidence motion because a few newborn critics are beginning to demonstrate short memories as we say in Guyana. Apparently they’ve already forgotten the physical and psychological conditions they lived under just 27 months ago. They seem to have forgotten what they fought so hard for and won – peace, respect and advancement.
I’ll take it just one step further and beg you to remember that Rome was not built in one day, and Guyana could not be completely rebuilt in just 2 years. These things take time, skill and money.
That motion was submitted on the eve of Parliamentary Recess, so there was going to be no immediate debate. It was then properly published and placed on the Order Paper for debate when Parliament resumed on November 10, 2014.
Before we submitted the Motion, the PPP members had spent a great deal of time mocking the Opposition, certain as they were that no such motion would ever be brought. “Bring it on!” they would shout in a bovine chorus, over and over, but for all the bravado, the president still refused to convene Parliament for weeks to allow the debate to begin.

THE FOLKLORIC MOONGAZER

So in the interim, while the PPP’s MPs didn’t have the parliamentary floor to flaunt their arrogant braggadocio, their cronies in business, like the Private Sector Commission, were busy trying to invoke visions of doom in the minds of Guyanese, while other business organisations tried to dilute the seriousness of the motion. But they all knew that the inevitable fresh elections would spell doom for the PPP.

SAVING FACE

Section 106 of Guyana’s Constitution provides that “The Cabinet and President shall resign if the Government is defeated by the vote of the majority of all Members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence”. So, to save face and avoid certain humiliation on the battleground of a parliamentary debate, the PPP decided to fall on its own sword.
President Ramotar prorogued Parliament on the very day that the debate was to begin. He dissolved the House and announced the date for fresh elections as the Constitution stipulates – within 90 days after dissolution.
Those elections results were predictable because the populace had had enough of the PPP and everything that party represents – pervasive corruption, disrespect for citizens, even their supporters, and their total disregard for parliamentary procedures (recall one of their last acts – the highly unlawful withdrawal and spending of $4.5 Billion by the then Minister of Finance).
He had acted in clear violation of the Constitution, and his arrogance when asked by Parliament to provide reasons, was so disrespectful that AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan proposed that he be jailed for this criminal act.
So recently when I was asked why the No-Confidence motion had only 10 words, my reply was that it mirrored one of the admonitions of the 10 Commandments of God: “Thou shall not steal”.

A LONG RAP SHEET

The defeat of the PPP in 2015 was surgical. It was the first step the Guyanese electorate took to exorcise the PPP’s unrestrained lawlessness, and their corruption which still taints our country’s international reputation. Guyana is still referred to as a corrupt country today. Potential investors have qualms about investing here because of that bad world reputation, one that the country had earned fair and square under the PPP.
Their Rap Sheet is long, so here are only a few of their crimes of omission and commission:-

*Refusal to hold local government elections for 20 years
*President Ramotar’s cantankerous refusal to assent to Opposition-led parliamentary bills
*Refusal to set up the Public Procurement Commission
*Refusal to appoint a chairperson to the Integrity Commission
*Diversion of billions of taxpayer dollars to their slush fund, NICIL
*Unilateral distribution of radio and television licenses to friends, family and cronies
*Abuse of government resources and state media for party purposes
*Unlawful use of confidential tax information to intimidate critics
*Open harassment and disrespect of journalists/media, even jurists

MY PERSONAL VENDETTA

It wasn’t until the writing was on the wall pre-election that I finally realized why the Jagdeoites were waging such a nasty war against me, replete with cuss words. It was a vendetta. You see, I had dared to defy ‘his mightiness’ by walking away from the ‘Augean Stables’!
The common line was that I had ‘sold out’ to the PNC which, in post-Jagan parlance, is tantamount to teaming up with the Devil. The latest regurgitation of this racist red venom came after I participated in a State function to commemorate the 32nd death anniversary of former President, Forbes Burnham.
My credo is that while we must seek knowledge and guidance from the past, we cannot be slaves to it. These are people who just can’t let go of the past. They let it intrude into our present and overshadow our future.
In his lifetime, Cheddi Jagan understood that he could not forever be a prisoner of the past. That was why he used to often say that Guyana would do well to return to the ethos of the 1950’s when there was racial and working-class unity.
His reliance on dialectics led him in 1964 to propose a PPP-PNC coalition. In 1975, even with claims of rigged elections, he offered “critical support” to the PNC government, and complimented its “anti-imperialist” stance and industrial nationalization policies.
In 1980, Cheddi Jagan and his comrade, Forbes Burnham, were still trying to put together a coalition government that would have materialized if the President had not died suddenly on August 6, 1985.
History will certainly settle on their roles separately and together in Guyana’s evolution. Whichever side of the political fence we sit on, we should view our founding fathers as men who tried to work through our complicated struggles and circumstances to achieve true nationhood.
To those who come after me and my government with malice, I say to them: Hate is ugly and unproductive. Try 10 pretty words next time!

---

---