On this day in 2018, Charrandass wrote his name in history

Dec 21, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – There is so much unreasonable, irrational, almost insane output from the psychology of people about the PPP’s leadership that it is sad that there is no intellectual climate in Guyana to stimulate debate.

When Charrandass Persaud became High Commissioner to India the Stabroek News (SN) carried an editorial that rejected his suitability. Here is what SN noted: “On the face of it Mr Persaud does not appear to be the appropriate choice for New Delhi. It is now left to be seen how Georgetown’s decision to make a purely political appointment to the New Delhi mission – as opposed to that of a career diplomat – will advance this country’s interests.”

Three things to note about that quote above before we look at the no-confidence motion (NCM)which occurred on this day four years ago. First, one of the avenues of patronage that winning parties used to extend gratitude to those who made electoral success possible is the overseas diplomatic posting.

It has become a norm in the use of power of which the Obama presidency stood out. Obama dished out ambassadorship to the friends who made his presidency possible. From the time of Independence to March 2022, Guyana has created ambassadors that have deep relation with the ruling party.

After the PNC and United Forces formed the government in 1964, a Portuguese woman, Ann Jardim, without any foreign service background was made our envoy in Brazil. Prime Minister, Forbes Burnham in order to safeguard himself from the rivalry of his charismatic political ally in the PNC, John Carter, made him ambassador to the US.

In 1983 when I was foreign policy advisor to the Maurice Bishop Government, I learnt about the story of Fidel Castro’s womanizing ways. Castro got mixed up with the wife of a high state official and posted the gentleman to head the Cuban mission in Poland.

When Cheddi Jagan became President in 1992, he made the unlikely choice of Brindley Benn as our High Commissioner to Canada. President Granger plucked Halim Majeed out of obscurity where he lived in the US and conferred him with ambassadorship to Cuba. They both worked closely during the Burnham presidency.

Secondly, SN never informed the nation why Charran, a long-standing Berbice lawyer was unsuited for the position. Thirdly, would SN have adopted the same hostility if the government had chosen a light complexioned Mulatto lawyer?

We come now to NCM of December 21, 2018. A year before, at a birthday party in David Street, Kitty, Charran told me that although he was against the type of governance practiced by the PPP, when the AFC got in power, he saw power-hungry men whose character made the PPP leaders look like angelic democrats.

He said the NCM idea was put to him and he was elated at the possibility but was afraid for his life. He asked me if he voted for the opposition NCM, how he would leave the parliamentary compound unharmed.

Finally, the strategy was completed in 2018 and he felt he had protection. On this date four years ago, Charran wrote his name in the history books. It was an expression of conscience that took its place among the great moments of Caribbean politics.

A deluge of scurrilities greeted his courageous mind, of which the charge of bribery manifested its unwanted presence. Sadly, at the crescendo of the scandalization by his detractors raged on, there was not one response, not even one from PPP intellectuals in Guyana and the diaspora. There was never a defence of Charran from these quarters about the role of conscience in leadership.

When President Granger’s son-in-law, Dominic Gaskin, at the height of the election rigging, denounced the rigging twice, there was not one accusation of bribery. Here is an interesting contrast. Khemraj Ramjattan denounced Charran as a bribe-taker for which Charran sued him and won. I saw in a television interview last year, the same Ramjattan said that Dominic Gaskin remains his friend.

It was unfortunate about the incident with the lady in India. Even though we are close friends, I could not see how I could have argued a case for him staying on as High Commissioner. Charran has apologized and he has been removed from India.

Charran should be home shortly and I hope he stays and gets a state job and continues in politics. He made the eventual outcome of the March 2020 election possible through his valor and conscience on this day, four years ago.

I end with a quote from John Milton, the English poet (1608-74): Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience.”

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)