Lincoln Lewis continues to misrepresent the facts

Feb 16, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Reference is made to a letter from Mr. Lincoln Lewis captioned ‘Under Jagdeo’s presidency the bauxite industry self-contributing Pension Fund worth more than $2.5B was destroyed’.

Mr. Lewis not only repeats therein, previously debunked accusations about the PPP/C government’s treatment of workers in the bauxite industry, but also launches into a wide-ranging rant accusing the government of racism and discrimination.  It is no secret that Mr. Lewis currently finds common cause with the APNU-AFC, thus his contrived racialisation of issues is consistent with what is evidently the political strategy of the main political opposition.

While almost all of Mr. Lewis’ accusations have previously been comprehensively debunked and discredited, we are aware that every year or so, when he revives these claims, there may be people who have never noticed them before.  It is for this reason that we respond.

Firstly, Mr. Lewis asserts that Vice President Jagdeo is “squatting on the people’s interest”.  He must explain this cryptic assertion.  If he is implying as his consorts in the opposition do, that the APNU+AFC won the last election, he should have the moral and intellectual courage to forthrightly posit this discredited position so that we can deal with it.  He should not be allowed to hide behind cryptic innuendo.  If this is not what he means, he should say what he does mean so that people can engage him to the extent that what he says merits such engagement.

Secondly, it is incumbent upon Mr. Lewis to prove (not merely assert) that the Prime Minister does not function as the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly. He should also give us the benefit of his expertise on Constitutional Law and to educate us on the ‘functions’ of the First Vice President following which he can prove that the Prime Minister does not perform those functions. Should Mr. Lewis be able to prove these two assertions, we can then proceed to treat with the unsubtle racist rhetoric that is embodied in his statement that the Prime Minister “appears content to support the [alleged but unproven] constitutional violation” and all that follows.

Mr. Lewis then goes on to make his oft repeated claims that PPPC governments have discriminated against bauxite workers but support sugar workers.  The objective of making this comparison is obvious. Mr. Lewis has been making these claims repeatedly for well over two decades.  On each and every occasion that he makes these accusations typically in vague and sweeping terms, there have been comprehensive factual and detailed responses by former Prime Minister Hinds which time and again have proven Mr. Lewis to be incorrect.  Every year or two, Mr. Lewis simply re-asserts these bogus claims probably in the hope that he finds a new audience or that people have forgotten that his claims have been comprehensively and credibly demolished by former Prime Minister Hinds.  Please see letter in the Stabroek News dated February 1, 2016, almost seven years ago which thoroughly and factually refutes each and every claim repeated by Mr. Lewis today.  Former PM Hinds details the decades long, consistent support to the Bauxite industry including the government’s assumption of responsibility for billions of dollars in debts racked up by the PNC administration so that Linmine and Bermine, freed of these liabilities, became attractive to foreign investors; government’s continued support in keeping the industry alive when certain investors pulled out, and treating with the reason that the worker’s proposal was rejected. Despite former PM Hinds, calm, rational and detailed refutation of Mr. Lewis’s sweeping generalized accusations, it seems that Mr. Lewis intends to repeat these identical claims every few years in the hope that they eventually assume some semblance of credibility merely by repetition.

One new twist in the old saga is Mr. Lewis’ implication that the Granger/Nagamootoo administration prepared to settle the issues between Rusal and Bauxite Workers just before the 2020 General Election.  This is a truly mind-boggling claim given that Mr. Lewis on February 8, 2020, a mere three weeks before those elections accused Minister Keith Scott and senior officials of the Ministry of Labour of being “a bunch of incompetent men who are working for the [Rusal] against the state…” see Stabroek News February 8, 2020 “Lewis slams Scott, other labour ministry officials for ‘incompetence’ in handling RUSAL dispute”.

In that story, Mr. Lewis is reported as asserting that the PPP/C administration of Mr. Donald Ramotar tried seriously to resolve the issue, but that Minister Amna Ally “ran away”.  Mr. Lewis should provide proof of the change of heart on the part of the APNU+AFC government between February 8, 2020, and March 2 2020.  He knows well that he cannot, but it does not suit his purpose to acknowledge that his political kith did nothing in this regard to advance the interests of their political “kin”.  He basically is trying to say that the APNU was prepared to resolve these issues in order to say that the PPP/C isn’t and for an inference of ethnic motivation to follow.  He has no regard for the facts.  His sole motive is to advance a narrative of discrimination.

A similar intent is seen whereby Mr. Lewis conflates the issues of union dues and collective bargaining.  On the one hand, Mr. Lewis alleges that support for the sugar industry allows GAWU to collect union dues and stay alive while government does not engage in collective bargaining.  These issues are separate and distinct from each other.  Mr. Lewis does not allege that unions with which he sympathizes are not allowed to collect union dues because he cannot so do.  He cannot treat with this issue honestly and logically because his purpose is to contrive a different standard in order to advance an accusation of ethnic discrimination.

It is in this vein that the entirety of Mr. Lewis’ letter has to be contextualized and interpreted.  His sole intent appears to be to allege racial discrimination and inflame passions of the Guyanese people.  I respond here not because I believe there is the slightest merit to any of his unfounded allegations but because regrettably, fictions, repeated often enough without being countered will eventually take on the status of truth.

Regards,

Hon. Oneidge Walrond

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce

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• APNU-AFC, Hon. Oneidge Walrond, Industry and Commerce, Minister of Tourism, Mr. Lincoln Lewis, PPP/C Government

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