Civil liberties have been restored, observed and upheld since the coalition took office

Oct 02, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Please permit me a space in your newspaper to respond to a letter published in the Kaieteur News dated September 25, 2019, titled “Cuddling Dictatorship” by Shane Lindie, where he states, “I watch this illegal president and his illegal bunch of government officials tour this country amidst protests after protests by thousands of dissatisfied citizens.”
Every time I see a letter from one of the PPP’s sycophants I am amused and sometimes wonder where these folks were living in the last 10 years. This same President, who they preach is “illegal”, is being criticised, and demanded by the protests, by these very preachers of illegality, to appoint a date for General and Regional Elections. Can legality come out of illegality? I quote from the learned attorney at law Maxwell E. Edwards who posited in the newspapers that, “Political sensationalism blinds us to logic and common sense. Illegality cannot be cherry picked. Illegality is not severable. In our constitutional architecture and scheme an opposition exists only when, and if, there is a government and Parliament. If there is no President, there is no Parliament, and by a logical step in the argument, no opposition because if there is no President there is no National Assembly, as there can be no National Assembly if there is no President, who is, a constituent part of Parliament; the other constituent part being the National Assembly. If the President is “illegal”, then, so is the Parliament and Leader of the Opposition and all the Opposition MPs, incurably tainted with such illegality.
The APNU/AFC government has demonstrated the respect for Guyanese and the Constitution by respecting the (article 106 (6) and (7) which cannot undermine or subvert article 177 (6), entrenched in our Constitution at the second deepest level. It is also respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.
I can recall as a young Guyanese growing up under the PPP/C government I was afraid to speak out on issues involving the PPP/C government.
My memory is clear, on numerous occasions there were Guyanese, who were penalized for speaking out and even would end up in prison for example, Oliver Hinckson who was jailed for speaking, about what Bharrat Jagdeo felt was dissent against his government.
Since President Granger won the Presidency after the 2015 elections, every day on Freedom Radio 91.1FM there are daily programmes that speak critically and many times disrespectfully against the president and the government. To date no action has ever been taken against the station or the presenters, unlike during the PPP/C reign, when CNS CH 6 and HBTV CH9 television stations were undemocratically shut down. In addition, just for a quick reminder; journalist Gordon Mosley was blocked from entering the Office of the President. These are clear examples of suppression of freedom of speech and a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 in comparison to the APNU/AFC respect for Guyanese rights to freedom of speech/opinion.
Editor, Shane Lindie should be ashamed to even talk about freedom and democracy because of what obtained under the PPPC. The nurses in Guyana and sugar workers did not have rights; to speak out to ask for better wages for example, under the PPP/C, the police shot nurses for protesting for better wages and conditions of work, and the sugar workers from Wales Estate were tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets. Pellets were fired into a political protest, one that was simply marching down Brickdam. A young man was arrested for showing a middle-finger to Jagdeo’s passing Presidential convoy, others were badly beaten and hauled to the Brickdam lock ups.
It is my considered opinion that President David Granger is leading/steering Guyana in the right direction. I even recognized the respect that was shown by the coalition for all Guyanese citizens even to the PPP/C protesters on September 19 outside of Pegasus.
Shane Lindie given the examples above it is non sequitur, that you can state, “I am totally embedded with the struggle for freedom and democracy in Guyana.” The horrifying days of the authoritarian PPP/C rule have been relegated to the annals of dark Guyanese history when civil liberties were denied and human rights were violated with impunity.
We cannot continue with the old trickery and violations we were facing in the last 12 years under the previous administration. Freedom and democracy have been restored in Guyana under the APNU+AFC.
As a Guyanese who is under 25 years, I really needed that change. There is no need to struggle for freedom and democracy, those civil liberties have been observed and upheld since the coalition assumed office in 2015.

Sincerely Yours,
Ceion Rollox

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