Comparing four African Guyanese presidents

Dec 13, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Of the three Indian presidents, you are foolish to think anyone would be on the top of the list of Indian Guyanese other than Cheddi Jagan. Bharrat Jagdeo of course towers above Donald Ramotar; any poll will reveal that. Irfaan Ali has 10 years to displace both Jagan and Jagdeo.
Can he do it? It is all up to him. I can’t see the PPP presenting another candidate in 2025. I cannot see an election configuration in 2025 that would cause the PPP to lose or become a minority government. Irfaan Ali can walk away from history when 2030 ends or he can make it.
There have been four African Guyanese presidents. My vote is for Desmond Hoyte as the best. But I think in a professional survey, Burnham will come out on top, edging out Hoyte. The comparison then is between Sam Hinds and David Granger. There is no methodology one can use to compare these two.
African Guyanese will place Hinds last on their list because he was not the president from the party they see as the embodiment of African interests. Hinds is bound to be last because Africans in a questionnaire will refer to him as a PPP front man. There is no methodology one can use to compare Hinds and Granger because Hinds’ tenure lasted a mere six months. Granger’s was five years, two months.
What the analyst can do is to look for qualities in Hinds that Granger didn’t have and that will put Hinds in contention among objective Guyanese when comparing the two men. Four qualities stand out in Hinds. He was not a corrupt man in an absolute sense. Can one say the same about Granger? There is mounting suspicion since August after revelations keep cascading that Granger may not be above board, that he was not what the Guyanese people thought of him just after he became president.
Secondly, Hinds is one of the most temperate heads of governments CARICOM has produced. He was never ruffled. Hinds just couldn’t be arrogant even if you injected arrogance oil into his blood. This quality was recognized by friend and foe and its constant display in public led people to see Hinds in a non-antagonistic way.
Thirdly, he knew how to shape his public relations, Granger did not. Hinds would never have spoken in the arrogant, insulting way to the media that Granger enjoyed doing. When asked by the media if his government would appeal a decision if he lost in the High Court, Here is how Granger replied; “I’ve said what I’ve said!” Hinds as president would not have spoken in that way; just never.
Fourthly, Hinds had a keen sense of what he felt he had done wrongly and was willing to discuss it. Granger was too pompous to cultivate such a quality. I remember going to Prime Minister Hinds for a house-lot for WPA executive member, Ali Majeed. I knew Hinds since our days in politics when he was the head of the organization, GUARD.
I entered his office and greeted him as Prime Minister. He told me I could still call him Sam as I used to. Then I threw a bait at him, which he swallowed. I was laughing invisibly and inaudibly. I told him that he signed Majeed’s dismissal letter as one of a hundred striking bauxite workers that President Burnham ordered to be fired and that he owed Majeed. The PM in his imitable way, lifted his face to one side of his shoulder, gave off an intestinal smile and said, I guess you right.” He gave me a note to Minister Indra Chanderpaul. Ali Majeed still lives on the lot Hinds gave him through me.
One more time, I went to PM Hinds. All this time, I am a virulent, inexorable critic of the PPP government but I felt comfortable going to the PM. He never refused to see me when I made a request. I used the opportunity, as he was acting president at the time. I explained that Anand Senasie is a businessman who was enduring a hard time to get a gun licence.
At that time, Senasie was far from being the chairman of the Guyana Cricket Board. I pressed the point that Laurie Lewis, then Commissioner of Police, kept promising me but shoving me around. The acting president gave me a note to Lewis. Senasie’s application was approved. If the comparison between Hinds and Granger cannot be done, it is still a fact that Hinds had positive qualities that Granger lacked and those made Granger a failure. APNU+AFC lost in 2020 with Granger’s personality being a crucial factor.

(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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