A certain amount of madness

Jun 29, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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The caption of this column is taken from the title of the book on the life, politics and legacy of one of African’s great leaders – Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. A certain amount of madness has descended onto the entire, not partial, but the entire leadership of the PNC and the AFC since their failure to install themselves in power from March 4 when the Mingo horror show collapsed.
One cannot make sense of who is in charge of the PNC and inside the AFC. One cannot make sense of what these leaders are saying since the contradictions are enormous. It is almost certain that a book length manuscript will be published covering the complete story of the 2020 election using all the things that have been printed.
The two latest episodes have come from Joe Harmon and David Granger. Harmon exclaimed that the PNC will not concede because the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, has furnished his report that APNU+AFC has won. He ignores the fact that Lowenfield’s figures are being disputed in the highest court of the land with a decision likely in days.
Harmon is a lawyer so he should be literate enough to read the laws to understand that Lowenfield’s figures can only become reality if GECOM accepts them. This is the same Harmon who publicly spoke about the imminent meeting of GECOM on March 7 to swear in Granger after the court would have dismissed a writ sought against Mingo’s crooked tabulation. Three months after, Granger is yet to be sworn in but Harmon thinks the very GECOM that he knows would have sworn in Granger on March 7 will this time make Granger president based on what Lowenfield compiled.
A certain amount of madness has overtaken Harmon since March 4. This is the man who defended the government’s employment of an American consultancy firm, to get the US establishment to accept an APNU+AFC victory. In so doing, Harmon catapulted himself into the Guinness Book of World Records. Only Harmon accepts that governments contest elections not political parties. The consultancy firm pronounced that the election was free and fair. Harmon’s boss, President Granger, publicly declared that he did not know about the consultancy report and was highly annoyed that the dossier the firm produced described him as a US citizen.
From Harmon, we move to Moses Nagamootoo, the PM. He argues that the US and regional powers (which has to include CARICOM countries) want to overthrow the Maduro government and they are using Guyana as their pawn. The rambling PM went on to speak of the geo-political interests of the US but failed to explain why such a superpower and dozens of regional powers, need Guyana’s help to topple Maduro. Indeed a certain amount of madness has overtaken this man too.
Shortly after Nagamootoo’s accusations against the US and other hemispheric countries, President Granger in a trenchant rejection of Nagamootoo’s thesis put out a statement that Guyana shares the strategic values of the US and listed a number of enduring agencies and institutions in which these values are embedded. Here is where a certain amount of madness has enveloped Granger.
He listed the Carter Center as one of those enduring entities. But it was Granger who refused the Carter Center to have a presence in the recounting exercise observed by CARICOM. In denying the Carter Center’s request, Granger justified it by saying he accepts that CARICOM is the seminal mechanism through which the recount could be monitored. But Granger is completely silent on the CARICOM recount which showed he lost the election.
There is a certain amount of madness in the AFC. Its leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, conceded defeat at a meeting with his senior staff. Then the next day, he claimed the APNU+AFC won. Then his General-Secretary, David Patterson, went to Essequibo where he told a meeting that the election was not credible. Ramjattan, personal aide, Sherod Duncan, was in “cuss down” mode, “cussing down” the US and other countries that Granger asserts are Guyana’s friends.
Nicknamed the “boom lady” after she did a video in Parliament in which she repeated that Jagdeo must “boom out”, Simona Brooms wants no declaration. She is urging the parties to go back to the table and negotiate. But her fellow PNC Central Committee colleague, James Bond, wants a declaration. He is asserting a PNC victory. Finally, David Hinds is now “cussing down” the Caribbean Court of Justice because the election appeal has ended up there. He wrote that the CCJ itself is on trial. Sadly, and tragically, this certain amount of madness will begin to expand as the denouement approaches in days’ time.
(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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