The morbid one is Freddie, not the PPP/C nor Jagdeo

Jan 28, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Let me acknowledge publicly that I read the “Freddie Kissoon Column” whenever it is at hand (so too – “Peeping Tom”, “Ian on Sunday”, “Future Notes”, “So it Go”, and others) not as a Freddie fan, far from being a fan, but respectful as I should be of the opinion of any fellow Guyanese, and aware that Freddie’s view would be informed by some scholarship, although in my view too often forced, selective, distorted, all to be critical of the PPP and the PPP/C. Freddie’s article on Jagdeo in KN of Tuesday, January 23, is true to form – morbidity would be a more apt descriptor of Freddie than of the PPP, PPP/C or Former President and currently, Leader of the Opposition (LOP),Jagdeo, who provided the great opportunities for the transformation of Guyanese and Guyana for the better.
Going to Freddie’s Column, paragraphs 2,3,4 and 5,as well as the fourth from the end are quotes from a recent press-conference of the LOP in which he reiterates forcefully what has been the aspiration of the PPP (and the PPP/C) from their conception: a party that in its leadership reflects Guyana, so that us Guyanese thrown together so recently, historically speaking, may see in the leadership of the party, – whatever our race, religion, or region of Guyana from which we come, – fellow citizens looking like ourselves who could empathize with us.
No doubt there have been any number of instances when any number of PPP and PPP/C persons may have fallen below our high ideals of seeing and treating with each other primarily as Guyanese, but whoever questions the earnestness and persistence of the PPP in this regard should look to historical facts: the four founding members in 1943, composing the PAC (Political Affairs Committee) – Cheddi, Janet, Jocelyn Hubbard, Ashton Chase; the grabbing of the recently returned young lawyer, L F S Burnham, to be Chairman of the newly founded (in 1950) PPP; the formation in 1990 of the PPP/C when it appeared that there might be a return to fair and free elections, adding and combining new non-PPP persons (patriotic and not anti-PPP) with those who had stuck with Cheddi and the PPP during the years after 1964.
I want to reiterate that whilst in office, we PPP/C including President Jagdeo, sought to do in the context of the time and resources available, what was good for developing Guyanese and Guyana holistically: I can’t recall ever going through a list – this programme is for Indians, this for Africans, this for Amerindians and so on. As I have recalled on previous occasions, in 1994 we put aside the commitment of the then outgoing PNC to close the bauxite operations forthwith, if profitability could not be found by the International Manager. We read in the newspapers today about all our Coalition Government has to face in reforming our sugar sector. Well, we PPP/C and Jagdeo, faced all the same issues (about paying severance pay promptly and reconciling and making good the workers’ saving scheme, statutory remittances to GRA and NIS, and so on). We did what we had to do without any fuss, as we were Government for all Guyanese and Guyana.
Concerning the four specific examples given by Freddie of actions taken by the PPP/C under Jagdeo to seemingly alienate Afro-Guyanese, one who is not morbid would see them as possibly mistakes though well intended and well-intended they were: (i) whatever was in Roger Luncheon’s mind when he told the court “that no African Guyanese at the time was qualified to be a diplomat”, there must have been subsequent review because soon thereafter without notice and fanfare, a number of African Guyanese were appointed diplomats(ii) the then Chairman of the ERC recalls endeavouring to gather data from many agencies of government and private institutions to give an ethnic breakdown of their interactions with the public – the universal response was that there was not the practice of determining and recording the ethnicity of clients – it was thus indicated that a bigger project was necessary to obtain the useful information desired; (iii)siting of the 1823 monument at the seawall was appropriate as the design evoked the uprising and struggle, and it could be readily erected at the seawall site – siting at Parade Ground should and probably would have attracted considerations of other designs appropriate for that site, perhaps designs evoking the “torture, mutilations and executions” perpetrated at that site; (iv) I went to the trouble to obtain and read a copy of the letter referred to by Freddie and it could only be considered “venomous” in the pain of its truth. Some persons see similar sentiments and concerns expressed by Freddie himself in his series entitled “Vodoo Political theory”. I, like Jagdeo and Ramotar, sense no case for sanctioning that lady.
We PPP/C cannot hold out that we set out to do anything specifically, exclusively directed and intended for Afro-Guyanese but we will hold out that Afro-Guyanese shared equitability in the growth and development that all of us Guyanese engaged ourselves in during the years of the PPP/C in Office. We are not reluctant to acknowledge the actions of Former President Desmond Hoyte which (re)opened roads to growth and development. I am not reluctant to argue that, subsequently, we have to largely thank Jagdeo as an exceedingly competent and practical economist and politician, as Finance Minister and then as President. It so happened that in the same issue of KN in an article entitled, “Getting Help”, Peeping Tom remarks on how skillfully and successfully Bharrat Jagdeo managed the effects of the world financial crisis of 2008. It would be informative and good to have listings for our citizens who were able to acquire their first vehicles and/or their first homes during 1992 to 2015, with the PPP/C and Jagdeo in Office, to enter their names, and I would be ready to wager a big jill that it would be found that Afro-Guyanese have enjoyed a reasonably proportional improvement when compared to what Afro-Guyanese and all Guyanese had before 1992.
Turning to the “poor Sam Hinds” in the last two paragraphs of the column, Freddie seemingly forgets the circumstances, the foregoing of the PPP and the unwritten covenants under which Cheddi and the PPP formed the Civic Component. Recall that when it looked like the anticipated 1990 election might be fair and free, not rigged, Cheddi Jagan recognizing the estrangement and isolation that would have grown between our peoples post 1964, and sensing the need once more to pull our Guyanese people together, formed the PPP/C seeking to bring into an extended leadership (and support base) any Guyanese who at that time was not hostile to and was ready to work with the historical PPP to rebuild and restore and take Guyana forward. It was obvious that once again Afro-Guyanese were particularly sought after by Cheddi and the PPP even when they may have been at the heart of the PNC earlier. Jagdeo is carrying on along the long-held aspirations of the PPP and PPP/C.

It was known at the time that Cheddi was seeking an Afro-Guyanese Civic to be his running mate and Prime Ministerial candidate. Again, as was widely known, the then well-known economist, Dr. Clive Thomas headed his list which was said to include other then known persons, Gordon Todd, Aubrey Armstrong, Maurice Odle, all known to and respected by Cheddi. It was when these (and perhaps others) could not accept for various reasons that the name of then unknown but lucky Sam Hinds came on the table, and he has not been poor for it. Sam Hinds was a novice to politics who had no expectations of becoming President, and his stepping aside was him being true to the unwritten PPP/C covenant. A document presented by President Jagdeo about 2005, entitled “Building Trust” points to what we, all Guyanese (including Freddie), should be working towards.
Samuel A. A. Hinds
Former President and Former Prime Minister

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