You need to hear what Jonathan Yearwood said

Aug 25, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – I cannot count the times I wrote on this page about a certain feeling that episodically comes over me. It relates to the denunciations I get from others because of my candid views on certain things. Then I find credible citizens would arrive at the same conclusions.

It has been happening for decades now. I am assigned scorned words by certain civil society groups and their media backers because I denounced their absolutely appalling hypocrisy. And up comes credible voices and they would echo similar sentiments.

I would take no delight of being proven right but I do laugh when it happens, as I did with the penetrating statement of Mr. Ralph Ramkarran on civil society which I carried in yesterday’s column.

When Mr. Ramkarran’s observation on civil society hit the press, on reading it, I said to myself what lies in store for that gentleman. I know the feeling. I have known the feeling for decades now. Then it happened. Mr. Ramkarran words were: “I got a good cussing out.”

This is Guyana where a man or a woman shouts from a rooftop that Minister Khan or Minister Jones treating government employees badly. Then an independent voice says: “but you should not talk, you do the same.” And the knives are out for that independent mind.

Have you seen or heard what Jonathan Yearwood said about the reason he left the political party he assisted in birthing? If you didn’t, I suggest you go on YouTube and look at the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show.

Not in a long time, has someone so neatly elaborated on the double standards of an opposition party, apart from the usual criticisms thrown at the PNC. Mr. Yearwood has divorced himself from the party he helped to form – A New and United Guyana (ANUG). With the self-destruction of the AFC and the demolition job Mr. Yearwood did on ANUG last Monday evening, it appears that the space for third parties is thinning out.

This is not good for Guyana. Any citizen would know and must know that more parties mean more options for the electorate and also based on votes, more different voices in parliament. Power is always looking over its shoulder when the Parliament has an array of voices seeking and peeping into what it is doing.

Of course, what Mr. Yearwood had to say is his interpretation. It does not mean his account is factual or may be factual but embellished with his own brand of varnish. His elaboration will remain intact if the ANUG does not respond. If they do not, then what basis do we have to dismiss the recollections of Mr. Yearwood?

So what are the revelations?  Mr. Yearwood intoned that he encountered difficulties trying to get the ANUG leadership to hold election which was long overdue. This should surprise no one in this country. Countless organisations have not had elections even though they are properly due. I can think of the Guyana Press Association, the Guyana Human Rights Association, etc.

Mr. Yearwood told the show that only one voice in the party’s leadership supported his call for the election. He added that his request was met with the reaction, that he, Yearwood should arrange the process himself. He asserted that he did just that but was met with obstacles.

He used the word “above.” He described how “word came from above” that nominations must be done on the day of the election. This is stupid, nonsensical  and depraved.

If an organisation is holding an election, nominations for leadership positions must be held in advance so the organisation can determine if the nominees have locus standi. There is no political party in the entire world that accepts nominations the very day the party is having its election.

Mr. Yearwood described a situation that is at the heart of accountability. He told the show that one of ANUG’s executives was in a controversy involving alleged conspiracy at a state-owned company and he requested the person be made to withdraw from the executive until the investigation was completed. But that was rejected.

At this point, Ruel Johnson interjected and told the show that in April 2020 while in the leadership of his party, The Citizen’s Initiative, an allegation of a personal nature were made against him by an individual. His executives decided he should step down until the matter was ventilated and solved. He did just that.

Mr. Yearwood ended his discussion on ANUG by saying if ANUG could behave so improperly over small matters, what could you expect when it gets into power. But that has been the story of politics in Guyana, long, long ago and still is.

(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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