My line in the sand

Dec 30, 2018 Features / Columnists, Hinds' Sight with Dr. David Hinds

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This is the last column of the year. I want to wish all readers a happy new year and urge you to continue reading.
The objective of this column is to offer a perspective on Guyanese politics and society that veers away from party orthodoxy and dictates. It is first and foremost an independent column, aimed at getting readers to consider another perspective than the ones that offer partisan comfort.
I write and advocate not for the clueless and the blind disciples who have little capacity to see beyond the narrow confines of ignorance. Rather, I seek to converse with the reasonable, the salt of the earth, the sufferers and the enlightened.
My year-end column last year was published in the Guyana Chronicle, but two months later, along with Lincoln Lewis’ column, it was removed by the powers that be from that newspaper, which they have treated as their personal property. They removed those columns because they could not stand the independent critique of their stewardship, but more importantly, they did so because they had the power to do so. It was the second time since they took power that the government removed me from a government agency for my independence.
Less than a year later, that power was taken away from them, courtesy of a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition PPP. Under normal circumstances, I should, therefore, be rejoicing at their fall. But Guyana’s circumstances are not normal. So, I am not rejoicing. Instead I am trying to grapple with the further mess that the fall of the government has brought on Guyana.
The country is now pushed into uncharted waters—it’s the first time that we have had to deal with a successful no-confidence motion. Consequently, there is lots of speculation about where this will end. The PPP wants early elections—after all, they won the no-confidence vote. But the government and, perhaps, its constituent parties, seem to be looking at legal loopholes as a route to overturning the vote. Both sides are on solid ground, it seems.
But there are larger sociological implications. Any move to the courts by the governing parties would be framed by the PPP as yet another attempt by the PNC to derail the will of the people—read “the people” to mean Indian Guyanese. And we have already seen how the words “traitor” and “Judas” and “betrayal” have gained currency among African Guyanese at both the level of party and government and among the masses—read that to mean “those Indian Guyanese traitors.”
As a fierce defender of African Guyanese dignity, I must urge some toning down of that rhetoric. Quite apart from its ethnic viciousness, it masks the ineptitude and collusion of the government in its own demise. If Charrandass betrayed his colleagues in the AFC and the Coalition, then it must be said that the government betrayed the trust of its own supporters, who cannot point to any benefits for them beyond a few hand-outs here and there. The complaints from the supporters are many, and by now should be well known to the leaders. But have they heard—do they have the capacity to hear?
So, I urge government supporters to look beyond Charrandass’ action, and ask what the factors are that led to that fateful vote. At some point we have to go to the polls, and the PNC would have to team up with potential “traitors” if it will win. The question then is this—how do you keep partners from becoming “traitors?” I am afraid that the senior partners in the Coalition are ignoring that question, because if they were to address it, they would have to admit to poor management of intra-coalition dynamics.
People are claiming that Charrandass took PPP money. If that is so, then there are questions of bribery as a means of governmental change, which falls outside the rule of law and the democratic process. And that is a matter for the police and the courts. Those who have evidence in that regard should take it to the police. Until such time, I urge that we focus on the political causes of what happened and vow to correct them. The Coalition has control over that; it doesn’t have control over who gives and takes bribes.
So, what’s next for us? I do not shed a single tear for those who are today the interim government—they have turned out to be the most arrogant government in our post-colonial history. It is not that there aren’t outstanding individuals in the government—there are many. But as a collective, they leave a lot to be desired.
Never have I seen a group of rulers so in love with the trappings of power and so deaf to their own vulnerability. Never have I seen a group so unprepared for government. Never have I seen a government so ungrateful to those who put them in power–the workers, the teachers, the vendors, the unemployed youth, the down-pressed, the villagers, the “trouble makers” like Lincoln Lewis, Mark Benschop and Freddie Kissoon, who risked their lives and liberty to create the conditions for this government to rise to power.
I belong to one of the parties in the Coalition and would respect our collective decisions. But for this coalition to win my individual support at the next election, I have to see, in word and deed, a qualitative change of attitude and shift in orientation. For me, the current top leadership ranks need an immediate overhaul, for those who now occupy those ranks are incapable of meeting the demands of the time. That leadership has failed its supporters and Guyana.
I have already called for Carl Greenidge to be brought into the centre of the Coalition. There are others like Vincent Alexander, Robert Corbin and Aubrey Norton on the PNC side who can make a big difference to the leadership of a future Coalition government. Nigel Hughes of the AFC is sorely needed.
In the end, my support would be for the security of the poor and the powerless who wail to people like me every day because their leaders have betrayed them. They walk the bad roads every day. They endure poverty every day. After three years of their government in office, “no sun will shine in their day today” because in the concrete jungle “the living is hardest.”
If the Coalition does not apologize to their supporters for failing them, broaden the leadership to include others, and pledge to do better if given another chance, they will not get my support… and for what it’s worth, I would not encourage others to do so. That’s my line in the sand.

More of Dr. Hinds’ writings and commentaries can be found on his YouTube Channel Hinds’ Sight: Dr. David Hinds’ Guyana-Caribbean Politics and on his website www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.news. Send comments to dhinds6106@aol.com

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