Dear Editor,
Guyanese should be deeply concerned and troubled by the overbearing and vengeful influence being exerted on the Granger administration by a group of individuals who are bent on pushing the administration to take extremist positions. Regrettably, there are some in the APNU+AFC coalition administration who are sympathetic to this extremist ideology being peddled by that group who claim to feel a sense of frustration and betrayal.
The nub of their frustration and betrayal is their inability, thus far, to gain a tactical advantage over the administration by pushing their extremist agenda, even warning it that if it doesn’t act in the new year their inaction could undo all their excellent achievements.
By this means, they seek to capture the public’s attention and rally support around their selfish, hostile game plan of playing on the passions of some of the supporters of the APNU+AFC and to lure them into accepting their impoverished and divisive discourse as well as the supremacy of their perspective.
Tacuma Ogunseye, Clive Thomas, David Hinds, Lincoln Lewis and Eric Phillips are the most prominent and belligerent of them all. They set themselves the task of going after the jugular of a number of PPP/C persons whom they target for a combination of reasons, but fundamentally, for political and ideological ones. They are exerting every effort to utilize the coercive apparatus of the state to achieve their ambitions.
Posturing as consummate apologists for the administration they claim that the PPP/C administration left major challenges for the new government to resolve, and that
most of the challenges are grave and are impossible for any new government to resolve in the short term. Introducing a plethora of anecdotal generalizations and impervious to evidence, Mr Ogunseye for his part, sought to impose as factual his group’s single interest as a matter of public interest. He offers not a single shred of scientific evidence or statistical data to corroborate his call for the administration to pursue his line (‘Challenges need to be addressed by government in a timely manner’ SN, Dec 23). For example, he claims that the APNU+AFC coalition came to power, “At a point in the country’s history of unprecedented social, economic and political crisis.”
But Mr Ogunseye should be reminded of the McIntyre Report which analyzed Guyana’s economic decline during the 1985-1991period. That report stated: “Real GDP had declined by an average ten percent in 1982-1983 as a result of sharp contractions in the bauxite sector and decline and stagnation in most other productive sectors. Economic decline eased up in 1984, but the economy remained stagnant through 1987 with a per capita gross domestic product of only US$500. Guyana was one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.”
The report added: “There was a steep increase in commercial arrears and the total public sector external debt reached almost US$1.9 billion by 1989 or more than twice its level at the beginning of the 1980’s. Measured by the usual indicators of debt to GDP and debt to exports, Guyana became one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world.”
Is this the “crisis situation” Mr Ogunseye refers to when the APNU+AFC attained office in May 2015?
The red herrings Mr Ogunseye threw into his ‘analysis’ through his foolish raising of the allegation that the PPP/C mobilized its “supporters to squat on government lands on the East Coast, He referred to sugar workers being “encouraged… to down tools”; and said that the party was “exploiting historic racial insecurity.” All this is aimed at justifying his call for the administration to “take appropriate action in the New Year…”
Mr Ogunseye wants the administration to bring an end to the retreat in its publicly stated policy to bring justice to wrongdoers of the previous regime. He goes on to dictate to the administration to “charge [PPP/C] wrongdoers.”
But he doesn’t stop there. He claims that APNU+AFC supporters view the non-action by the administration as an indication of “political weakness” because they had been led into believing that “justice would have been dispensed swiftly and fearlessly.” Consequently, Mr Ogunseye laments that the APNU+AFC supporters are, “Deeply disappointed that this has not been the case and find it hard to understand why the government is taking no initiative in this direction.” Assuming the role of an ideological mentor for the administration, he rejects the time-honoured principle that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty (not by Ogunseye or Clive Thomas or a section of the media, but by a court of law).
Messrs David Hinds and Tacuma Ogunseye are singing from the same hymn sheet; after all they are both members of ACDA and the WPA which is part of the APNU. Hinds for his part, commenting on the recent huge salary increases gifted to government ministers said:
“Government misread the feelings of its supporters and this is worrying”. This he claims, “Shows that government is out of touch with realities on the ground.”
What influence these two individuals have on the administration and President Granger himself is anybody’s guess. They both want to achieve the same objective but from two different perspectives. This political extremism germinating within the APNU+AFC must be rejected.
Mr Ogunseye is correct when he said: “There is need for a correct assessment of the balance of the social and political forces in the country.”
The truth is, were this analysis to be done on a scientific basis it would certainly not give him much comfort nor would its outcome be supportive of his extremist, intolerant views. I strongly recommend that Mr Ogunseye and those who think as he does view the movie; ‘V’ for Vendetta. For those who care to should do so. It’s produced and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski, the moral of the movie is that unless people speak out and hold government accountable nothing will be done to stop the theft of their civil liberties.
Yours faithfully,
Clement Rohee
General Secretary
People’s Progressive Party
