2021 Review – Part 3: The usual suspects and the unusual suspects

Jan 18, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – The most fascinating thing about Guyanese politics that I don’t see elsewhere is the oxymoronic content in the actions, motives and demagogueries of political plotters. They are both comical and dangerous. Last year in Guyana the trend continued.
Can any human who lives in this country believe that Rickford Burke would sue anyone for libel? Remember in libel, you are complaining that your character has been damaged by the spoken or printed word. I saw Mr. Burke in 2021 saying that unless somebody gets run off the road then the PPP will not stop behaving as it does.
A person who used those words is suing Mr. Jagdeo for libel. Burke of course can no longer return to Guyana to testify in court when the trial begins. He will be arrested on serious criminal charges since the police have issued a warrant for him.
A Guyanese woman in 2021 appealed before an international body asking for intervention to stop oil drilling in Guyana. If a sovereign country can be prevented from entering into an investment covenant with a foreign company then surely, the world will become a most fascinating place.
If an international body can stop the arrangement between the Guyana Government and Exxon, then by the most logical reasoning that body has an obligation to rid Guyana of poverty. One would hope that this woman reappears in front of the organisation in 2022 and demand that it pours money into the University of Guyana and other places in this land that need it. When I read that action of the lady, the first thing that struck me is why she didn’t ask that international institution to stop Venezuela’s claim on our country.
I saw an interview in 2021 and I was thankful to myself I wasn’t drinking hot coffee while watching the programme. The host told his guest, David Hinds that he, Hinds, is a fine example of struggle.
Surely, David Hinds cannot, even in the remotest of ways, be considered a person of struggle for a better Guyana. See what I mean by oxymoronic politics. Hinds is one of the fiercest rejectionists of the results of the legal, internationally endorsed general election in March 2020.
Hinds is an open supporter of the politics of Burke. Hinds’ racially laced speeches are simply appalling. Last week, he wrote that the PPP doesn’t like CARICOM nations for racial reasons, seeing CARICOM as “them people.” Hinds chastised African East Coast villagers for leaving their villages to buy black pudding from an Indian lady in Mon Repos. Is that a man to be described as an example of struggle?
Then just before 2021 was about to end, on his Facebook show titled Politics 101, Hinds got into an emotional rage shouting, “I am owning Burnham, I am owning Burnham and I don’t give a damn what people say.” I am told starting very soon is a Meta (Facebook) show in 2022 titled Dictatorship 101.
The host (from the diaspora) is someone whose father Burnham was responsible for killing. The son will use that forum each day to disown Burnham and show how Burnham planned the assassination of Walter Rodney.
There needs to be a Facebook programme to remind Guyanese of the names and faces of the Guardians of Democracy. They were the symbols, motifs and manifestations of genuine civil society. These were the people who struggled to prevent another rigged national election in 2020 and saved us from the return of Burnham, the dictator that Hinds now openly embraces. To refer to Hinds as a “fine example of struggle” after his continuing political sagas since March 2020 is beyond incredible.
It was definitely a crazy year in Guyana in 2021. A secret dossier of the AFC was made public in which the AFC plans in March this year when it holds its congress to leave the arrangement with the PNC. The AFC in this document makes big plans for its resurrection as if it will preserve its life after its split from the PNC. You have to read this paper to see how comical this country’s politics is.
Just before the year 2021 was about to enter into the annals of history, I was sent a video clip in which the son of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Joey Jagan, after showering praise on three of Guyana’s voices that are rejectionists of the March 2020 election results, revealed that he was a registered member of the Republican Party of the United States. Shakespeare once wrote:
“Man, proud man,
Dress’d in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape.”
(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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