Dear Editor,
Permit me to comment on what I see as six highlights reported by your newspaper of the report by PPP General Secretary, Donald Ramotar on the first day of his party’s Congress (Sunday Stabroek 3.8.08).
1. “In presenting the report on behalf of the Central Committee, Ramotar alluded to the negative effects the narco-trade had had on countries like Guyana, but said that another dimension to criminal enterprises which should concern the party, was the linkage of politics and crime.”
Mr Ramotar is probably the second person in the PPP’s hierarchy to have admitted Guyana has been bedevilled by the narcotics scourge. The other was Gail Teixeira, former Home Affairs Minister who was transferred to a desk job in OP. And these admissions continue to undermine President Bharrat Jagdeo’s staunch refusal to acknowledge the scourge existed, or that it had even tainted government officials and the police since there had been no major arrests.
On the General Secretary’s review linking politics and crime, in which he targeted the real or perceived shenanigans of the PNC, it is amazing how much time he devoted to this, as opposed to the narcotics scourge and its money laundering spin-off effects that have also been allegedly linked to elements in the government.
There were two sets of criminals at work: those who seemed to work against the government and those that seemed to work with the interest of the government in mind. One was a threat to the ruling party’s hold on government; the other helped the party retain its hold on power.
The General Secretary chose to focus extensively on the one that threatened to bring down the government. So much for the hypocrisy.
2. “Tracing the history of the opposition forces to create a security crisis, and the strategy to make the country ungovernable since 1997, Ramotar said that having failed to get the police not to respond to the lawlessness, the PNC began to target the police more aggressively speaking about extra-judicial killings and later the murder of young black men whenever bandits or criminals ‘were confronted by the police and were killed.’”
And despite his knowledge of the opposition forces to create a security crisis since 1997, not one PNC official has ever been arrested! Why? Because the PPP capitalized on the crisis to goad Indians into believing the PNC is the bogey man that should never be elected to office. No wonder Indians did not vote in large numbers in 2006 or are looking to run overseas. The PPP does not care about them.
Besides, how can Mr Ramotar gloss over the deaths of ‘black’ criminals and ‘black’ suspects killed at the hands of the ‘Phantom Squad’ and the police? It seems to confirm the suspicion that the PPP is not interested in justice or the appearance of justice, whether for Indians or Blacks.
3. “To deal with the issue of crime, the report said that there was urgent need to establish a squad similar to the defunct ‘Tactical Service Unit’ [Target Special Squad] since the use of the army was temporary and there was need for a permanent crack unit with specialized training and adequate equipment to counter criminal enterprises.”
How many times are PPP and government officials going to make promises to reform and upgrade the police to combat crimes? In the wake of the 2002-2004 crime sprees, President Jagdeo promised a SWAT team.
Now, what is Mr Ramotar talking about here that Indians especially have not heard before? This is all politics; if there is going to a permanent ‘crack unit,’ it had better be able to deal with all sorts of criminals, including narcotics smugglers, money launderers and white collar criminals in government who are hurting the economy.
4. “Apart from the parliamentary opposition parties attacking the government, the report said that there was a continuous barrage on a daily basis from certain media houses.”
What the General Secretary did not state was that the government enjoys full and ready access to the Guyana Chronicle, a radio station, a television station, a centralized government information service centre and the ruling party’s house journal. And that none of these outlets really cater for views and speeches that are opposed to the government and ruling party. He also deliberately ignored the fact that sixteen years after taking power, the PPP government refuses to end its monopoly on radio. Again, so much for the hypocrisy.
5. “Commenting on the political situation in the country, Ramotar reported that following the 2006 elections, the PPP/C had a parliamentary representative in every region, the only party in the country to achieve this.”
The truth is, the PPP continues to have its parliamentary representative, not a people’s representative in every region. Ergo, the party, not the electorate, determines who the representative is, and the party, not the people, is responsible for recalling such representatives. It is a party list system that works well in communist countries and is not truly representative of a true democracy.
6. “Ramotar said that the PPP/C victory at the elections was also due to the fact that the government had performed magnificently. ‘Our President, Cde. Bharrat Jagdeo, has grown in stature both nationally and internationally,’ he reported.”
He never mentioned that though the government ordered that Election Day 2006 be a national holiday in order to allow more people enough time to vote that a significant portion of Indians, who normally support and vote PPP, stayed home in ‘silent protest’ at President Jagdeo’s failures in addressing their major concerns. Moreover, that the General Secretary could hail President Jagdeo’s performance as “magnificent” is all the proof we need to know the party and the government are like the blind leading the blind. The ‘magnificent performance’ is based exclusively on the fact that the party is still in power and not that the party is empowering the people on the economy and personal security.
7. “On the issue of a presidential candidate for the 2011 general elections, Ramotar noted that there had been much talk in the public as to who it would be.”
That is what anyone should expect among people who are deeply frustrated by the present government’s performance: they are eager for change from this albatross around their necks. But then the people have to pay careful attention to the words of Mr Jagdeo who said, “It would be [his] last time addressing the party at its highest forum as President unless another such congress was held before the next general elections.”
Note the word ‘unless’! This means another one is not scheduled, but it is possible another one could be held. Why would he say this if there isn’t a plan in the pipeline? Is this really his last term?
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin