“We waan Justiss!” – What is justice?
As the Emergency 2020 Budget debate was being concluded, the revitalized PPP General Secretary – Vice President- Member of Parliament, Comrade Bharrat Jagdeo lamented: “Mr Speaker there are no honest interlocutors on the other side…”
I was and am persuaded that he was, by and large, accurate in assessment and conclusion. For even as he was speaking Intelligence Officer Harmon’s PNC Opposition was walking out in protest. At Jagdeo’s presence? Presentation? I’m not too sure.
But to many interested even concerned citizens like me, it was the new PNC’s display of the planned politics of protest and acrimony. They had brought protest from West Coast Berbice village roads and perhaps, also from the impatient nurses, to the Parliament Chamber.
These tactics are easy to discern, expected and likely to attract more (silent) defections from the new PNC. They’ve deemed the legally constitutionally sworn-in government “de-facto” and “fraudulent”. Yet they insist that the “illegal” government obey the Constitution and appoint their members to national Boards and Commissions.
They still seek to advise the “fraudulent” government what to do about national issues. And how. They are writing and lobbying the world to sort of de-recognise the government. Poor PNC.
So I began to wonder: what will the oppositions politics of protest and sustained acrimony achieve? It was tiring but I’m sure I came up with a few (obvious?) answers.
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PNC 2020 protests: What, when, why, where
As LFS Burnham solidified his earlier autocracy, Cheddi Jagan fashioned his Opposition’s thematic objective: To oppose, expose and depose. It took 28 years and the American’s Jimmy Carter to eventually depose. It should be noted that Burnham had died and Dessie Hoyte sensibly conceded.
I suspect that Cheddi’s theme is now embraced by Mr Harmon’s New PNC. With the Brigadier Leader plotting in the background. (Not time for a respectful, would–be Statesman-like retirement Brigadier?) Now Frankly Speaking, there are thousands of die-hard PNC “comrades” who know and accept that they lost on March 02 last. There are a few other thousands – mostly under-thirties – who were persuaded, or wanted to believe that their Party somehow actually won.
The veteran Old Guards and the ambitious young Turks in the PNC’s leadership owe their very existence to convincing the vulnerable to keep up the “We-beat- the- fraudulent-PPP” fight. So petitions and the politics of protest (PPP) it must be. After all, there are still, probably will always be, thousands who won’t/can’t turn to the PPP or the ‘new’ parties they suspect. A loyal PNC “base”, however shrinking, will always be, around for the leaders and parliamentarians to “lead”.
So please expect non-co-operation, confrontation, protests from the Comrades. Causes are easy to come by – industrial disputes, early PPP excesses or genuine “executive errors and implementation, manufactured outrage against discrimination, employment/dismissed policies, criticism of new infrastructural and other PPP government programmes/projects, etc, etc.
Look for protests in the villages, the depressed communities, certain ministries. Everything could be deemed a good appropriate time to provoke acrimony. Hard-pressed people will ignore the fact that the new government is not yet three months old. But does the PPP outfit has it in their DNA to really uplift all groups? Rendering PNC protests futile? Discuss.
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Please tackle “everyday crime” Minister Benn
Cuss him all you want but to me, Robeson Benn has the attitude to strategise against this looming, alarming everyday crime against the poor working-class now being experienced in town and country.
No modern society has completely eliminated criminal activity. When that happens it will be societal heaven on earth. But no society should have to live in uncertainty, anxiety, fear. In Guyana right now the armed bandits don’t even wait for darkness. With knives, cutlasses and guns they attack peaceful hardworking males, housewives, workers and children in broad daylight!
These notes cannot hope to capture the extensively broad spectrum of crime. However Minister of Home Affairs and Domestic Security must summon his Police Commissioner, managers of Private Security Services, Mayors and Village Leaders and what’s left of genuine Community Policing Groups to confront the rising surge of dangerous daily banditry.
Police statistics mean nothing to hapless brutalized victims – from grandpas like me to the small business people. I have a few practical, even unique, suggestions Minister Benn. It’s already critical.
A reminder about Justice
From Louisville, Kentucky, USA to West Coast Berbice Guyana, hundreds of protesters some actually aggrieved, some opportunistically fake – keep demanding justice. “No justice No peace” is one of their useful popular chants.
Often the demand is for the police and judicial/ legal “authorities” to dispense “justice” against persons accused of killing, causing death of persons the protesters consider(ed) loved ones and/or innocent These demands are often accompanied by destructive even deadly activities.
But what kind of justice is demanded? Do the protesters realise what justice is under a country’s rule of law? Justice at times could be blind and unkind. Blind justice means applying investigation, assessment, findings and conclusions, as guided by agreed upon laws. Yes, often the guilty go free when clever advocates are better at specific laws.
Classical definitions of justice include: “The administration of what is just; the arbitration and assigning of merited rewards or punishments; fair administration of law; righteousness.”
Tell the above to livid, mis-informed protesters who demand that justice favour their cause only.
Their “justice” means only one outcome – guilty! But it does not work like that.
Consider, ponder…
● 1) A fond regretful farewell to GT’s Matts Record Bar. The impetus of COVID merely accentuated the fact that YouTube, Netflix etc, etc meant poor ever-declining sales.
Matts provided generations with music for dancing, prancing, reminiscences, and joy, love. She met every top singing star who visited Guyana from the sixties to the nineties. She was the first I knew wearing lavish but effective make-up. And she could tell you how the Mighty Sparrow made “B.G. Plantain.” Goodbye.
● 2) It’s easy to predict that the PPP government’s determination to “bring back sugar” will attract huge criticism and condemnation. Many valid!
● 3) Will the massive Ogle and Mahaica futuristic development really happen?
’Til next week
