Balancing is taking place at the top of the armed forces

Dear Editor,

I share the thrust of both Mayor Hamilton Green’s letter (What must be debated is the need for Justice, Equity and Decency to be all-pervasive) and another by Abu Bakr (A discourse of provocation), which appeared in in the March 28, 2013 edition of Stabroek News. All I wish to say on the subject of the two letters is that if we must speak of balance in the armed forces, then we must not separate that discourse from one about balance in the sectors of the State and Political Economy in which East Indians are dominant. Both ethnic groups are dominant in crucial sectors of the State and Political Economy. Suffice to say that these imbalances are a direct result of two phenomena: the way in which our Post Emancipation order, grounded in divide and rule, evolved over time; and the consequent ethno-racial competition for political, economic and cultural resources that accompanied decolonization and independence.

But what Mr. Sultan Mohamed conveniently ignores or is probably ignorant of is the fact that the PPP has moved aggressively to staff the higher echelons of the Armed Forces with East Indians and Africans loyal to the PPP. Balancing is taking place at the top, where the orders are given.  Further, it is a fact that the African-dominated Police Force, which so frightens Mr. Mohamed, has, since 1992, summarily executed more Africans than East Indians, including Africans engaged in peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience. Ethnic dominance and force by a particular group do not necessarily depend on institutions populated by that group. The PPP’s decision to seemingly incorporate bribery of Africans as an integral part of its mode of governance coupled with the  ease with which Africans of all classes accommodate to that phenomenon represent a dimension of our ethnic dynamics that is silenced by African Guyanese opposition politicians and the media, who are afraid of being labeled racist.

Yours faithfully,
David Hinds