Did Hamilton Green not personify ‘Divide and Rule?’

Mar 16, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Reference is made to the response of Harry Hergash (KN Mar 15) to Hamilton Green on divide and rule. Green’s behaviour was not of someone who supported unity and democracy in Guyana. He was connected to and indicted by the population’s view as the person who personifies ‘divide and rule.’
As Hergash reminded readers, Hammie opposed a democratic outcome of the March 2020 and October 1992 elections. His advice to Granger in July 2020 was/is in line with his thinking of which party or race should rule in Guyana. In short, in 2020, he recommended to Granger not to give up power. Similar advice was proffered to Desmond Hoyte in 1992. Such thinking encouraged, promoted, and perpetuated division and anti-democratic behaviour in the society.
I distinctly remember that Green wrote sometime in 2019 and again in 2020 that the Carter Centre had no business to ‘involve’ itself in Guyana’s electoral affairs. His position essentially was : “What business was it of the Carter Centre if elections were rigged in Guyana” (my description). In short, he said, Carter Centre must not protect or advocate free and fair elections for Guyana. Hammie would have reason to keep out Carter Centre, OAS, Caricom, and other observers. Free and fair elections would be the bane of the party he has supported. He was/is widely viewed as the intellectual author of fraudulent elections in Guyana and of racially inspired violence.
Green’s view of the Carter Centre apparently had not changed much from 1992. For the 1992 election, sources informed me, in my capacity as a reporter, that Green led a group of thugs opposed to the democratic outcome of the election. He was reportedly seen with supporters who were involved in violence in Georgetown and who also attempted to storm Gecom’s office. Many properties were looted and burnt from arson. Also, hundreds were beaten and robbed. There was some rigging of voting and multiple voting was observed. There was rift between Green and his superior, Desmond Hoyte. Green was adamantly opposed to the public counting of votes and at the place of polling. He did not support the concessions made by Hoyte on the restoration of democratic governance in Guyana. Sources told me that Green was overheard speaking on the phone instructing someone to inform Desmond Hoyte that he (Green) and his band of supporters would not listen to any White man (a reference to Jimmy Carter) on how ballots should be counted and the declaration of the outcome of the elections. The violence was meant to prevent the declaration of the election results, a quick count of which showed PPP won. Was that attitude not one which promoted racial division and disrespect for the tenets of democracy?
Perhaps Green can advice whether he made such remarks, his role in the racial violence of 1992, and how he feels about Jimmy Carter, an icon of democracy who is loved by Black Americans. Carter was not intimidated by arson or ethnic violence or thugs or characters like Green or threat to burn down Gecom building with Carter inside. He huddled with aides and Chairman, Rudy Collins, and Gecom staff inside the Gecom building to protect the integrity of the ballots. Carter’s life was threatened. President Carter’s call to Hoyte that he (Carter) would phone President Bush (Snr) for American protection promoted Hoyte to send GDF to quell the PNC violence. Hadn’t Hoyte intervened to disperse the protesters, there could well have been US military intervention to protect the ballots and off course President Carter and other Americans. The GDF opened fire on the thugs; my recollection is a few were killed and injured causing them to disperse. The protesters were shocked that the army opened fire on them because they were assured that nothing would happen to them. Was Green there? What was his role? The protesters must have realized that Green could not protect them. Hoyte was the boss and he authorized use of force to quell the rioters. The die was cast; the election could not be rigged to keep the incumbent in office not in 1992 or 2020.
Separately, Green made reference to Mr. Eusi Kwayana on the 2020 elections. Green should never mention that name or compare himself with that iconic character; Kwayana had integrity and never rigged an election.
On divide and rule, when I was a youngster, Green was Minister of Sports. He was accused of distributing sports gear and equipment to his party’s supporters. Nothing came to my schools (Anglican and Corentyne High) or communities that supported the PPP. Was that not a policy of political and ethnic ‘divide and rule?’ Also, when Green was in government, children of schools in communities that supported the PPP did not receive regular delivery of biscuits and milk in the UNICEF/UNESCO sponsored nutrition program? Was that not an act of divide and rule?

Yours truly
Vishnu Bisram

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