Dangerous deception and rabid misrepresentations debunked

Dec 04, 2018 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

There was a time and up to the period before he ascended to the Presidency, I used to believe that Donald Ramotar was one of the better humans within the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP/C). However, time and events have comprehensively proven me wrong. There are not any excuses, or mitigating factors that are there to contradict or disprove such a view.
In fact, it needs no repetition that his presidency saw the continued hand of Bharrat Jagdeo, as the country descended further into the dark chasms of state criminality, unparalleled not only in Guyana’s history, but in the CARICOM membership. His party’s defeat at the 2011 polls, at which it lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in its political existence, signaled the beginning of the end, of his party’s once seemingly invincible hold on political power.
The 2015 defeat, caused primarily by his undemocratic action of proroguing parliament – rather than engage the then parliamentary opposition in a no confidence motion vote – signaled his political demise, as far as being an influential party-political grandee.
There should have been lessons learnt by this former president and party elder, especially given the very serious damage that he and his predecessor would have done to this country, particularly with regard to their role of drastically altering its social dynamic during their over two decades reign in office.
Therefore, at least for one who would have served at such a level, the least that could have been expected was an honest acceptance as to what occurred during their collective stewardship, and contributions towards avoiding those mistakes again, and advising on the future.
But not Donald Ramotar! His very frequent letters have become a politician’s textbook and guide for political deceptions of all kinds, and misleading information, towards creating a more than false impression of the current government and its stewardship. What is so unfortunate is that it has been given a home in sections of the private media, a refuge that continues to facilitate the sanitization of Ramotar and his fellow political cabal.
The utterances are politically desperate, and grow frantic by the day, since they are always designed to whip up certain sentiments so as to keep the party faithful in line, as well as to constantly degrade both the current administration’s performance and achievement since taking office in 2015.
I believe in democracy and therefore believe in the right of expression, except that it must be responsible, truthful, and not be twisted for selfish ends as in the missives that Ramotar continues to pen.
In the Stabroek News, Ramotar stated what amounted to an understanding that the many criticisms of the then APNU coalition were responsible for the targeting of Chinese businesses by robbers. This is to impute a political hand.
This is an egregious assertion that was debunked by law enforcement which concluded Chinese commercial spots were the victims of opportunistic criminals, and not any orchestrated strategy. In fact, Ramotar has a chronic track record of linking the Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) to crime and criminals without ever providing any evidence.
This brings me to Ramotar’s latest slew of high public mischief, “Guyanese have lost confidence in this govt.” in Stabroek News of November 26, 2018.
Again, there are so many distortions, as is expected, in his missive that I have questioned myself as to whether it is worth my good time to respond to all of the dangerous, brazen, offensive and bold deceptions that such a discredited leader and his party have the temerity to continue unload on this nation.
Here are some samples of the principal misrepresentations that Ramotar uttered in that letter.
“For the first time we have seen the government boycotting the National Assembly”
This is a ludicrous statement, since the government decided that it would request an official postponement for a meeting with all of its MPs. This is quite understandable in the circumstances which gave rise to the request. One is certain that the Clerk of the National Assembly would have communicated with every MP, informing them about the re-scheduling of the House’s sitting.
Compare this official and orderly approach by the current government, to the more than shameful and disrespectful manner in which Ramotar as President, treated the then combined opposition MPs when the latter reported to the Assembly for debate on its no confidence motion brought against his government. Ramotar, unknown to the opposition MPs had already prorogued the House, thus avoiding a debate, and a vote.
And here is another of Ramotar’s absurd remarks.
“In just three years, thousands of jobs have been lost. The biggest blow was on the sugar industry. Working people have fallen into really hard times. Some are facing starvation”.
This particular issue of GuySuCo is what would have defined the moral mentality of the PPP/C – as a party that is prepared to deceive on a shameless scale, even to risk the destruction of truth and in the process, induce the worst form of provocation.
It is incredulous, and unbelievable that a former president who sat on the Board of GuySuco for close to two decades, and who would have been part and parcel of politically, self-serving deliberations and decisions that would have finally brought this once great national industrial giant to its knees, is now uttering the above. In any other jurisdiction, the then ruling political clique would have been criminally indicted for their role in the destruction of GuySuCo.
Any Fifth form economics/business student would have taken similar action as the government’s, in the current case of GuySuCo. Ramotar needs to be reminded that government has finally paid all severance to the sugar workers, which means that he and his party will no longer be able to continue to use those workers mercilessly for narrowly selfish political ends.
Just in case Ramotar and his clique are struck by convenient amnesia, there have been many social amelioration programmes that have been preparing and benefitting sugar communities and their workers for employment and other socio-economic opportunities after sugar.
Ramotar must be reminded that no one is starving, since a reported 10,000 workers are still employed. Redundant workers have been and are continuously being re-skilled through the Alternative Livelihood Programme established through the Small Business Bureau and GuySuCo. Others are now employed under various arms of the Ministry of Agriculture.
In fact, during the difficulties of the 1980s, it was the same tale of citizens “starving” and “falling down” in the streets of Georgetown that the PPP/C, ironically in opposition at that time also, had helped to orchestrate. Yet, visitors from the Caribbean, especially, were commenting on the abundance of fresh foods that was dumped daily around the city’s two biggest markets.
On the question of thousands of job losses – I wonder where in the national economy this has taken place, since no other sector, apart from sugar, has experienced any such reduction of employment, since 2015. At least, not the 30,000 that another politician has been spouting around. In fact, Jagdeo, Ramotar, and the PPP/C should give an analytical breakdown as to this figure.
In total, 4,283 workers were laid off from the Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara sugar estates. How could such number of jobs have been lost without impacting on the current market economy? Further, it stands to reason that had so many jobs now reported as losses since 2015 been created prior, then there would not have been that reported 45% unemployment rate existing among young Guyanese, long before 2015. Did these pretenders ever create half of the number of jobs that they are now bleating as having been lost.
We must now examine another “thousands” figure that Ramotar has put to the number of corrupt instances. This is to supplement Jagdeo’s ridiculous, dishonest and astonishing claim of the coalition government being the most corrupt in the history of the Caribbean. Of course, this is to continue to conjure up the filthy pitch of a country in socio-economic turmoil, in attempts to justify the PPP’s call for a no confidence motion.
But this is vintage communist strategy, the Stalinist brand, of which Ramotar would have inculcated very well. Except that it has made him into a disseminator of dangerous political falsehoods.

Regards
Dillon Goring

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