The David Patterson email, civil society and Shakespeare

Oct 03, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Civil society now has a few appointees on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). If William Shakespeare had to do a play on Guyana, it would arguably be the best one he would have written using the English language. I guess some lines would have gone like this: “Out, out, the ghost of hypocrisy. It poisons the fruit of ambrosia. It nestles in the bosom of necromancy. The seeds of evil lie buried deep in the heart of strife. It germinates on the face of life.”
This poor attempt at poetry describes Guyana. So, we read that civil society has some representatives on EITI. The fireworks of EITI lit up the night and the moon falls on the face of the word, “transparency.” Who or what is civil society in Guyana?
Who speaks for civil society and why is it still alive after suffering more stabs than Julius Caesar received? Let’s see how civil society gets murdered and who the assassins are. I reproduce here an email that David Patterson sent me when he was Minister of Public Works. It is about a story that is emblazoned on the walls of my soul. Reading it again, you would know it haunts me because I have written so many times about it.
After I learnt that the leaders of AFC had contacted a complete stranger and asked her if she wanted to be the minister of the environment, I cited that insane immorality in one of my columns. Here is Patterson’s reply in email form to me of Friday, April 15, 2016: “Freddie my brother we have to meet and discuss these matters, however the offer to (redacted) Thomas was discussed and agreed as a principled position. In the Accord we made provision for civil society to be part of cabinet, knowing full well that our partners would not be so minded towards such a position. Our position was that we would give up one of our positions just to ensure that we live as close as possible to the Accord we signed. When the ministry of environment was proposed we decided to go for a civil society placement plus a woman”.
There is one problem here and it is larger than the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal in March this year. In that room, when the decision was made the AFC leadership did not postpone its decision and consult Guyana on who represents civil society and who does so credibly.
Were ACDA, the Bar Association, the UG Unions, Guyana Press Association, FITUG, the 1823 monument organisation, Indian Arrival Committee, among others solicited for their views? Who in that room among the AFC bigwigs decided that this lady even belonged to civil society much less represented it?
So, who decided that Vanda Radzik and Mike McCormack truly represent civil society? So the moon fell on the word transparency. But how transparent are many of these civil society groupings? Mike McCormack is now on the EITI, but how transparent is his group – the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA)?
The GHRA in a response to me recently (see my column of Saturday, July 24, 2021, The GHRA and the indecency in and of Guyanese society) noted that it has a board of 12 members. But the 12 names have never been made public. They will never be made public for obvious reason.
If we are going to appoint Guyanese to sit on important bodies like EITI then the yardstick has to be the attitude of Guyanese to the five months of election rigging. This was such a frightening moment in Guyana’s existence that it was a challenge to every Guyanese to openly display their character and patriotism.
Mr. McCormack and the GHRA put anti-PPP instincts before country. Where is Ms. Radzik’s record on the election rigging? Here is my frenetic point. If you cannot condemn the assault on democracy that went on for five months, then what qualifies you to search for lack of transparency in the extractive industries and highlight such a lack?
The criterion to judge who is committed to civil society in Guyana has to be a voice against election rigging. Why? Because of the length of time the fraud took place. Every Guyanese in and out of this country had an enormous amount of time to see what was taking place. They had five months.
From March 3 until July 30, it was one absurdity after the other. The riggers even appealed a court decision of Guyana’s highest appellate court. For those who were silent, Shakespeare would have observed, “Oh conscience, lost in the wild, Hope cries in fear for the growing child.” (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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The David Patterson email, civil society and Shakespeare

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