Dear Editor,
The recent exchanges between Mr Ramkarran and others in the letter section shows that these writers are all caught up in the past, especially Mr Ramkarran. He claims that the PNC should apologise for its years in office and David Hinds has the nerve to criticize President Cheddi’s book, The West on Trial.
First of all, what is Mr Ramkarran up to in calling for the PNC to apologise? He’s really politicking for the presidency with all his long-winded letters and wants to divert our attention from the real issues facing us – bread and butter issues like good jobs for our people, lower taxation, less corruption in government services, smaller government and democracy in full swing, like more radio stations. There are political issues also, like the PPP failing to implement the accords signed in 1998 and many other blatant discrepancies like the lack of consultation with the opposition in matters of national importance. The PNC changed course in the late eighties in both economic policies and political positions and the result was the peaceful transition to the Jagan government with the economy on the upswing. Should they apologise for that? The PNC since that time has taken positions which have caused this government no real harm and as a whole, have been a reasonable opposition. Should they apologise for that? The PNC, under Mr Corbin, has shown remarkable restraint and has contested and accepted the results of all the general elections and has played a positive role, under trying circumstances, in Parliament. Should they apologise for that? Mr Ramkarran is a communist and he knows quite well that all communist-oriented countries in the same 28 years of PNC rule were rigging elections, dismembering democracy, intimidating the naysayers and destroying their economies with no concern for their people. Cuba is a prime example, but yet Mr Ramkarran will not ask the Cubans to apologise. He knows that the PPP endorsed a lot of the communist ‘things’ the PNC government did to the economy. The PNC should ignore Mr Ramkarran and apologise for nothing except what is in their conscience in the face of the Good Lord!
As for the blatant distortions of President Cheddi’s book by David Hinds, this book has been in circulation since the 1960s, so I find it strange that an intellectual like Dr Hinds didn’t see fit to attack it when Jagan was alive, But he knows quite well that if he did when President Cheddi was alive, he would have been destroyed by Jagan’s rebuttal because the West on Trial is the truth and nothing but the whole truth. Mr Ramkarran’s letter gave Dr Hinds an opening to slur the great name of President Cheddi by trying to denigrate his book. In the many political talks which my father and I had, I remember him explaining about persons who were really “armchair” politicians ensconcing themselves in academia, and drifting away from the reality of the politics of the “trenches” where the battle for the hearts and minds of the people takes place. Dr Hinds is safely ensconced in his academic pillowcase abroad and has the nerve to attack a man who gave his all for the people of Guyana and left a narrative of his life’s work behind for posterity.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
