10 I run the risk of disapproval

Apr 26, 2020 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

At last, I am free to offer some comments on the column by Freddie Kissoon, published in Kaieteur News on April 20, 2020. Again, I thank the columnist for noticing the sins of omission and commission by people like me who may be objects of curiosity to the general readership.
Mr. Kissoon sometimes gives the false impression that I am the only person of my age group available for his examination.
Of course, it is not so. I note in passing that Mr. Kissoon seldom mentions me, without reminding his readers of my age. For some reason, age is an important factor in his analysis and in the conclusions that he draws. As I understand it, his present article in which he mentions Edward Said and Jean Paul Sartre bears out this concern.
I gather from Mr. Kissoon’s argument that he is very disturbed by the fact that in my letter, calling for a tribunal to document the recent cases of “humans being brutal to humans”, I did not also denounce electoral rigging.
His argument impressed some readers who, in their comments on his column, repeated this rebuke. My simple answer is in a statement which I signed with Mr. Moses Bhagwan and which was published in some Guyanese media on or about March 9 and March 10.
We said enough about electoral legality and rectitude to satisfy any reasonable reader. For convenience, here is the passage to which I refer:
“It is fortunate that the international observers are present. This makes it possible for them to evaluate any claims of evidence of illegality in the elections process and to bring these to light. Illegalities in elections must be condemned by umpires.
“At the same time, we also condemn all attempts by participants who speak about the rule of law, while they engage in disruptive tactics to enforce their will. All these actions, as well as alleged misconduct by authorized officials, contribute to divisions and chaos in the society.
In such a deeply divided nation, it remains possible for the leaders of the major parties to de-escalate the situation by finding a mutually agreeable solution. This can be done irrespective of the outcome in the courts, irrespective of the final declaration of results by GECOM, irrespective of local, regional and international observers finally signing off on a credible election result. If nothing else, the events of the past week have underlined forcefully that regardless of who wins under this current winner take all system, Guyana as a whole loses.”
I think that the passage quoted above sets out our interests in valid elections. When contesting parties are present and are articulate during the process and have access to judicial review and to invited observers, I, for one, consider it unhelpful to prattle about facts I do not have and about insights, notions, or even suspicions that I may have. I have always tried, in my political activity, to make only such allegations as are founded on evidence in my possession.
Like most observers of the process in Guyana, I do have notions of possible wrongdoing, but the impressions I am getting are not founded on facts that pass my own tests.
Two other considerations, apart from my suspected dotage, prevent me from rushing into print with any specific allegation.
One is my distance from the scene with the fact that many people of the best intentions are close to the scene, better informed and more likely to have a picture of what is taking place.
I must add, at this stage too, that although I have been active since 1973, along with others in efforts to secure general elections, I do not think that those who can engage an expensive lobbying group in the USA as their advocates will suffer, because I have not gone beyond restating general principles of fairness and legality.
In fact, if I may go just one step further, I am inclined at the moment to the view that if I am to engage in finger-pointing, I will need to point more than one finger.
Apart from all of this, I cannot pretend to be unaffected by the statement of the current Chairperson of GECOM that she intended to deliver to the public a valid election, or words to that effect.
I have often wondered from a distance whether and to what extent those who appealed to her public spiritedness to have a fully constituted Elections Commission have taken the necessary steps to support her stated aspirations.
I now turn to my recommendation for the investigation and the documentation of the reported incidents of what I have called brutality. I am not apologetic about making this recommendation. One reason is that they have occurred previously in our political life and it will be foolish and cowardly to ignore them.
What is most alarming to me is the fact that often they are not “centrally directed”, but worse, spring out of the gut feeling of thinly scattered groups, gripped with a sense of desperation. Failure to record these incidents is proof of political blindness and callousness in all the political directorates concerned.
I can only refer to my own praxis, whether I was acting alone or as part of a group. When the columnist, Mr. Kissoon himself, was assaulted somewhere outside of Nigel’s supermarket, I was one of those protesting and demanding investigation and punishment of the offender.
My writings record many examples of my attitude to assaults on the person.
For some readers, I will recall that in the song that became the WPA’s party song, I celebrated in permanent form one of the ballot box victims fatally shot by the military at the end of the polling in the 1973 General Elections.
As an activist deeply concerned with the survival of Africa in the Western Hemisphere after enslavement, I have run the risk of widespread disapproval from the African Guyanese community by challenging when necessary their iconic leaders.
It was as a result of my efforts that the High Court of Guyana declared unlawful the practice of assigning registration and general elections to the portfolio of a party minister.
If I now appear to Mr. Kissoon not to be babbling enough, there is nothing I can do about it.
As I look back on it, I find one omission in my letter to the press, sent also to Kaieteur News on March 24, 2020, regarding the documentation of “humans brutalizing humans”.
I should have listed, as a special case, the allegation that a young man was fatally shot by the police in the course of one of these incidents. The use of force by agencies of the State should always be subject to judicial review.
I regret the delay in responding, due to certain disabilities.

Eusi Kwayana

---

---