Dead meat, Charrandass and deconstructing “betrayal”

Aug 13, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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I start this opinion piece by asserting most intellectually and emotionally, I agree with the action of Charrandass Persaud, when On December 21, 2018, he voted yes in a no-confidence vote (NCV).
I wrote before and I am repeating it once more and will keep regurgitating it – Charrandass did the right thing in the context of the betrayal of democracy by the new look PNC under the name APNU; the AFC which has betrayed every political principle in the book; and the WPA which has sullied the legacy of a great Third World revolutionary, and one of my heroes, Walter Rodney.
Because of Charran, we are heading into an election in months. If possibilities come alive that there is no winner-take-all regime, and that those who are currently demonizing Charran are out of power, one hopes that Charran comes back to his land of birth, resettles here, and grounds with the Guyanese people. Charran has been a longstanding friend, and we have kept in touch since December 21, 2018.
If he finds favour with the election results, I will strongly urge that he returns to Guyana. It is unfortunate that for security reasons, he cannot be on the campaign trail. I write this viewpoint here to denounce the constant demonizing of Charran by the leadership of the AFC, PNC, WPA and their surrogates.
It is disappointing that those countless citizens here and abroad who see the determinant of conscience in Charran’s role in the NCV are not confronting the constant use of the word, “betrayal” to describe Charran by a post-2015 regime that has betrayed the Guyanese people in the most vicious ways, given all the claims of a dictatorship under Jagdeo and Ramotar, and our efforts in successfully removing that dictatorship.
Any deconstruction of the word, “betrayal” would reveal it applies more to those who have abused power since 2015, than the action of Charran. What is betrayal in the deconstructed sense of the word? We can start with promises that were willingly cast aside for an ostentatious lifestyle by those who signed a covenant with the Guyanese people to eradicate corruption. This is a small country where citizens see the lifestyle of the powerful and wealthy every day.
It is the inflexible belief of this analyst that there are more expensive, privately-owned cars being driven by ministers of the APNU+AFC government than any PPP mandarins during the 23-year-old reign of the PPP.
Let’s deconstruct the word, “betrayal.” No PPP leader ever engaged in his/her driver having to come out of the car and open it for the minister as a matter of routine. The driver also has to open the office door. I had cause to accost a minister on such colonial action. Power intoxicates the mind
Let’s deconstruct the word, “betrayal.” Confronting corruption if it wins was the campaign promise of APNU+AFC. This columnist is saying with pellucid assertion and unambiguous semantics that corruption thrives under the current government.
If there is another administration after the general election, SARA, without Clive Thomas, will no doubt investigate. During the Watergate scandal when Bernstein and Woodward would meet with “Deep Throat” in those vast underground parking garages, Deep Throat would say to them; “follow the money.” In Guyana, journalists investigating corruption should “follow the assets.”
Let’s keep deconstructing “betrayal.” In 2012 a line item in the budget was cut, meaning its funding was taken away. Those were funds for the state media units that the AFC and PNC in opposition said were government rags. AFC travelled to Berbice to justify the cuts. I remember sharing the same platform with Christopher Ram and Gerhard Ramsaroop. I will always remember that night, because during his delivery Chris lost his voice and I had to replace him.
Today the state media units are bigger rags, with Nagamootoo and Barrington Braithwaite brazenly writing in the Chronicle that Charran took money to say yes in the NCV. Whatever happened to the laws of libel? I will answer that. Betrayal defeated the laws of libel.
Let’s deconstruct, “betrayal.” The AFC promised its supporters it would never join with the two ethnic Leviathans because it is a multi-racial, third force whose raison d’être was to move Guyana way from the culture of the PPP and PNC. It openly proclaimed that it would become dead meat if it went into that pathway. It did and became dead meat.
Finally, Nagamootoo promised the AFC that his foray into politics had come to an end after 2015. He wanted to defeat the PPP. He said he would remain until the 2020 poll then retire. He still wants to be the Prime Minister.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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