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28 Vs 28
Hrad Truths column
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News – The PNC had its 28 years, the PPP has its 28. In this little essay titled 28 v 28, when put side-by-side, what did Guyana get, how has Guyanese of different generations fared? It’s a limited comparison. But I try with some higher profile areas of how the years of the two local political dinosaurs stack up.
Forbes Burnham took the media under his wing, then clamped his elbows to his ribcage. Media, what media? Where is it, who dares to be it? The Mirror managed a thin existence, offered a dissenting voice. Control the info flow, first quantity, then quality, and mental cripples and dependents are spawned. Burnham did his business; now check the record of the later day bigger Burnham. His name is Burnham the Bigger. There is also Li’l Bee, or Burnham the Younger. The latter works crudely, woefully, to outdo the original Burnham to be his better imitator in today’s PPP. Recall that Burnham emerged from the PPP originally. So, from which good folks did he learn that the independent media is an existential threat, must be neutralized? What Burnham did by the spoonful, the PPP’s Bigger Burnham and Badder Burnham have done by the spadefuls. Guyana had two radio stations, a couple of newspapers, and no television, during the Burnham era. In the PPP era of The Bigger Burnham, there are offline, online, and out-of-line news houses galore, gallons of TV, and the irony of freedom of speech on probation, malevolent attacks, and jail time menacing. Burnham B plus. PPP A+.
Next, Burnham studied the Guyana Police Force, and said, ‘nah bhai, dah nah gun wuk. Ah have tuh duh sumthin’ bout dah.’ He did. Special Branch converted to a baseball bat to beat Guyanese back into the Stone Age, and groveling. Like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, he termed that democracy, the divine right of maximum leaders. The English aimed higher: the divine right of kings. He was in good company. Look at what Americans are railing over today in the land of the free, home of the brave (and the depraved). No to kings, no to depots, no to tyrants. I make a special appeal to the State Department (through the US Embassy) -please deport some of those robust Americans to Guyana. As it was with Burnham in the PNC’s 28 years of police mismanagement-unsolved crimes, political enemies targeted, narratives massaged-so it has been in the 28 years of the PPP’s creeping, now sweeping, command of the police apparatus. From ‘Free Arnold Rampersaud to Free Mark Benschop. From PNC opponents ending up on the wrong side of bombs to many PPP opponents being assassinated differently.
One area that Burnham didn’t touch was narcotics. In contrast, the narcotic and money laundering trades flourishes in the PPP’s 28 years. From 28 years of darkness to 28 years of ecstasy. For masterminds, their PPP protectors. CANU and SOCU, but the US still bails Guyana out of those stews. Burnham had he baad ways; dem PPP bannas wusserer.
Then Burnham targeted the commanding heights of the economy. They all swiftly crumbled. Commodity prices scapegoated. Today, the Bigger Burnham has the same scapegoat tied nearby. Command the economy and command corruption (to one’s advantage). LFS had his national development ministry, which has now mutated into the PPP’s “national development priorities.” He built monuments that lasted, had flops that pauperized. The PPP build sandcastles that deliver migraines, spinal separations, and miscarriages. Miscarriages with millions, now billions since oil. Every public agency is now a full-fisted, full-throated gangster enterprise.
Pre-oil, cash trickled; torrents flow post-oil discoveries. Deh seh Burnham was a big teef. How much house he leff, how come he chirren ain’t own an oil block, or real estate blocks? Whisper unexplained wealth, and almost every PPP name glitters in red. Now that is what I call teefin. Burnham had difficulty in the PNC’s 28 to get loans. Say loans today, and from Australia to Zimbabwe jump up and holler, try us, come to Jesus. The Chinese, Saudis, Qataris, and UAEs shrug, so Jesus is out. Moh teefin’ de pore peeple monee. My Lord, my God!
Further, Burnham moved on religion, included imported ones that left immense blots on Guyana’s names. Nowadays, the Bigger Burnham’s indulgence for religions is simple. Shut up. Put up. Fix up. Seen and known, with fixing up and talking up the PPP in the once spiritual temples, tabernacles and turrets. This is how Gautama, Brahma, the Messiah, and the prophet from Mecca fare in Guyana.
Regarding bashers, spoilers, naysayers, Burnham didn’t like them, but controlled himself. He loved verbal sword-fencing, at which Cheddi Jagan was dogged, enduring. Did Burnham degrade him? Yes, very sophisticatedly. Abuse him in the vulgar, cowardly ways that his PPP counterparts of the last 28 years inflict on their perceived tormentors? No. His green-uniformed street thugs took care of such nuisances, with one allegedly in the PPP. The PPP has its cyber-masked psychos to do its dirty work. In Burnham’s years, the fear was physical; what the PPP began slowly is now a waterfall. Both physical and psychological fears haunt fainthearted Guyanese. Write a line, prepare to lose job, rights, even head.
Summation of PNC 28 versus PPP 28. Burnham was baad, real baad. The Burnhams in the PPP 28 are bigger, badder, wusser in every area. Take it from me.
(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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I’ve lived them both.
Initially, for short while- Burnham 28.
Now, PPP 28, just as in Burnham 28.
Both Offshore in Tariff Land.