Theorizing on the putsch in Guyana

Jun 20, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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In two previous columns, I argued that the rigging of the 2020 election could be interpreted as a putsch. In my piece of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, titled, “Deadly power struggle inside the PNC,” I noted the following; “What was born as a reaction to the Mottley arrangement was a ménage a trios in Guyanese politics – VT inside the PNC, four actors in GECOM… and the police force… What is actually taking place in Guyana right now is a putsch.”
In that column, I included the Guyana Police Force in my categorization. I again argued that since March 4, a putsch has taken place in another piece of Friday, March 20, with the headline; “Roy Beepat and the putsch in Guyana.” In that column I described the action of the police force in three areas that led one to conclude that a putsch has occurred.
One was the humiliation of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Edgar Thomas, by the police high command. Thomas refused an edict from a GECOM official to have PPP Commissioner Sase Gunraj removed from the GECOM building. Thomas, being a senior police officer would be aware of organizational chain of command. Only one person can remove Gunraj from a GECOM building and that is a higher authority – the Chairperson. For following professional guidelines, Thomas was removed from the GECOM command centre and assigned to road duties.
The second incident was a repeat of the Gunraj infamy but this time at another location. Senior police officials ordered another PPP Commissioner, Robeson Benn from the precinct of the recounting centre, a place where he had a legal right to be given his high status in GECOM. The third was the subtle order to the owner of Giftland Mall, Roy Beepat to remove his store cameras that looked onto the back of Arthur Chung Conference Centre compound where the containers holding the ballot boxes were being stored.
The police high command has since gone into two more egregious directions that support my theorizing that a putsch occurred in March. One is the inaccurate list to the GECOM chairperson of voters who were not in Guyana on polling day. When asked to explain some of the fictions on his list because the citizens he named were in Guyana, the police chief said they may have returned illegally, calling into question his professionalism.
The police have charged a number of PPP protestors, including a former PPP MP, Needkumar, outside the Office of the President for violating the distance rule of the Covid-19 emergency measures. They are before the courts. Yet APNU+AFC supporters were in full gesticulating mood in complete violation of the COVID-19 restriction on High Street two days ago in front of GECOM head office.
Dozens and dozens of them were doing the identical performance in New Amsterdam on the same day where they were given traffic escort. The police said they will charge them. My opinion is that it will not happen. Simona Broomes and other APNU+AFC supporters were outside the home of the personality that goes under the sobriquet, “Guyanese Critic.” Broomes hasn’t been charged; only the PPP protestors so far.
I am extending the concept of the putsch to fit the circumstances of police behaviour in Guyana. I am extending the circumstances in which a putsch can occur. It does not have to be a formal announcement of a sudden removal of the civilian administration. What has happened here is that the civilian government has arrogated to itself the right to overthrow the rule of law and it has support from the police force.
If the rigging was done by rogue elements in GECOM with the directing hand of the APNU+AFC then that could be interpreted as a conspiratorial operation. I believe that GECOM, the APNU+AFC and the police force have pulled off a putsch. I think no one has theorized on what is the attitude of the police high command since the depraved attempts at rigging the election.
Look at the role of the police subordinates on the evening of March 13. APNU+AFC thugs were assaulting journalists and party agents of the opposition in full view of these ranks who were laughing. My interpretation based on the police behaviour is that we have entered a phase in the struggle for free and fair election in which the security forces may not practice professional ethics reminiscent of the Burnham dictatorship. I am suggesting to Guyanese that they keep in focus police behaviour as the election thing winds down in favour of Dr. Irfaan Ali. I am referring to street protest and possible rioting. As an opinion-influencer, I see trouble ahead.

(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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