Dear Editor,
Systematically this government has weakened the public servants, bullied the teachers, rendered penniless the TUC, conspired with RUSAL to de-unionise the bauxite workers, sidelined GAWU, abused their own Komal Chand and Navin Chandrapal as they do their critic Lincoln Lewis, and harassed the likes of Mark Benschop and Freddie Kissoon.
Forestry expert Dr Janette Bulkan lost an engagement with the World Bank at the request of the government. Now the government has extended its reach to the architect of the Economic Recovery Programme, former Minister of Finance and renowned economist and international public servant, Mr Carl Greenidge. And what cardinal sin prompted the sinister approach by Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir to write the Secretary General of the Caricom Secretariat with the veiled request that Greenidge be sacked?
It is these words spoken at the funeral service for Winston Murray, former chairman of the PNCR: “I share Winston’s belief that notwithstanding the trauma of the last few decades Guyana can, with visionary leadership, be lifted from this nightmare in which it finds itself.” Any reasonable interpretation of these words would seem as much a criticism of Greenidge’s PNCR as it is of the PPP/C. But to Messrs Jagdeo and Nadir, this is treasonable, a cause for suspension of Mr Greenidge’s constitutional right to work. Yet, even the government might not miss the irony that its response is evidence of the nightmare of which Greenidge spoke!
For the declining number of groups and individuals who are yet to experience the vindictiveness of the government – whether in the form of sharp public rebukes, unlawful arrest and detention, loss of economic opportunities, collective punishment and even attacks by unknown persons – the message is as chilling as it is clear: the reach of the government goes beyond Guyana, and its intolerance is boundless. So will these groups and individuals remain silent because, to paraphrase Niemöller, no one has yet come for them?
Only the bullies can benefit from the silence and inaction from the PNCR, Greenidge’s party that he served so faithfully and with such distinction for many years; the Winston Murray Support Group which asked him to speak at Murray’s funeral; professional and ordinary Guyanese, and Mr Greenidge’s colleagues in Caricom. Collectively they are sending a frighteningly ominous signal that they are too weak or are mortally afraid. In the process, the question is inevitably raised whether the constitutional guarantee of a right to work, to hold and to express opinions and whether the Charter of Civil Society for the Caribbean Community requiring member states to respect the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual including “freedom of conscience, of expression…” are strong commitments or meaningless platitudes.
2011 is shaping up as a defining year for Guyana, one in which silence is the worst option.
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Ram
