By Arif Bulkan
Arif Bulkan teaches human rights law at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.
In the photograph published in the first part of this diaspora column two weeks ago, President Jagdeo is standing in the middle of Madison Avenue in New York, striking what can only be described as an unsavoury pose. Observers have long commented on Jagdeo’s unpresidential behaviour, referring to his vicious and undignified attacks on anyone who dares to criticize him. This photograph sets a new standard, even for this President, who is apparently unconcerned about his public deportment despite the responsibility of his high office (imagine, if you can, President Obama at a public event allowing himself to be captured on camera in a similar pose). Jagdeo’s public deportment, however, is entirely consistent with the way in which he has conducted both personal transactions and affairs of state during the waning years of his term. In part 1 of this commentary I focused on his indulgence (of self and cronies); this week I will conclude by discussing two remaining features of Jagdeo’s rule symbolised in the photograph: his disregard and intolerance of everyone else, manifested in increasingly repressive rule, and the criminalisation of the state over which he has presided.
The return to dictatorship
As long ago as August 31, 2007, US Chargé d’Affaires Michael Thomas described Guyana as “sliding towards democratically sanctioned autocracy”. After spending the better part of one day with the President at events connected to the launching of the US$6.7 million Guyana Threshold Program contract, Mr. Thomas stated in a cable that one “insight” (his word) he gained into Jagdeo’s personality is his utter disregard for public and parliamentary opinion. Of course Guyanese do not need an American to tell us this, but the value of this Wikileaks revelation lies in the fact that no political affiliation can be ascribed to Mr. Thomas. In fact, it was partly through American support to GUARD and civil society that electoral reforms were squeezed out of Mr. Hoyte, thereby facilitating a PPP victory in 1992. So we know that at one time in the recent past, the Americans supported the PPP, or more accurately, electoral democracy. What happened?
What happened of course was the installation of a ruler who negated everything that 1992 stood for. Jagdeo’s contempt for the views of others is manifested in two ways: anyone brave enough to criticise him is cursed out in the most brawling manner, and second, he has tried his best to extinguish freedom of expression in Guyana.
The crass behaviour needs little elaboration: it is on display for the world to see right now. It does not matter where he is, be it a cocktail party for the launching of a newspaper, a press conference, or a political platform – the President, like in the photograph, apparently has no regard for common standards of decency. But this is a relatively minor matter, for when a Head of State proudly shrieks “I in cuss mode”, or when he wages ad hominem attacks against critics instead of focusing on issues, it is not his targets who come across as contemptible.
What is far more egregious is how Jagdeo’s dictatorial instincts have resulted in repeated violations of the constitutional rights of persons in Guyana. It is a matter of public record that Jagdeo’s regime has repeatedly tried to muzzle public opinion, attempted to shut down the independent press, banned reporters from public places, refused to grant radio licences, suspended television stations, imprisoned citizens (including a teenager) for expressing their views, lobbied for independent citizens to lose their jobs, denied promotion or benefits to judges who issue independent rulings, and used the enormous coercive powers of the state to selectively target critics. In a real democracy, heckling at a political meeting is de rigueur; in Guyana, it can land you in jail if you heckle government Ministers. All of these acts are unjustifiable violations of the right to freedom of expression, and in more than one instance the Courts of Guyana have so held.
The PPP is fond of trumpeting that 1992 witnessed a return to democracy. If so, contrary to their current revisionist attempts, this was not the product of their labours alone. In fact, the PPP was notoriously quiescent during the PNC years and infamously colluded with the latter by giving ‘critical support’. In the late 1970s, the electrifying Walter Rodney and his colleagues in the WPA galvanised Guyanese across the racial divide; after Rodney’s murder, the Catholic Church, GHRA and an intrepid band of ordinary citizens kept the struggle alive. Eventually, when change came, it was the fruition of broad multi-partisan efforts that included but were never limited to the PPP. Crucial on the ground was the work of civil society led by GUARD. I remember the likes of Yesu Persaud, Nigel Hughes (yes Nigel, a Black man, raised his voice against the PNC), Bonita Harris, NK Gopaul (then of the trade union movement), Fr. Malcolm Rodrigues, my sister Janette (yes, the same person now dubbed unpatriotic) and several others (this is not meant to be an exhaustive list) on various GUARD platforms taking a stand against electoral manipulation.
The PPP, however, having benefited from the struggles of many, admittedly matched the PNC at every turn. Every time you hear the PPP reference ’28 years’, know this to be an admission that they are no better than the party they replaced. And it is the Party of a very particular period, that of the Burnham years. For Mr. Hoyte presided over a number of reforms – fiscal, economic, civil, and political, – which would never have seen the light of day under the PPP. To give one pertinent example, while Stabroek News came into being during Hoyte’s rule, Jagdeo openly tried to shut down this newspaper (and Kaieteur News, the other independent daily), among his many acts aimed at creating Soviet-era repression in Guyana.
Democracy is not measured merely by the ability to vote in an election, and political scientists and legal commentators have been making this point for decades. Freedom of expression is strongly linked to democracy, and in an Antiguan case the UK Privy Council declared that in a free democratic society those who hold office in government and who are responsible for public administration must always be open to criticism. The Canadian Supreme Court has been even more forceful, stating that without the freedom to express ideas and to criticize the conduct of government ministers and agencies, “democratic forms of government would wither and die…” If so, then Guyana under Jagdeo has been in relentless retreat from democracy, to paraphrase US Chargé Michael Thomas.
Criminalisation of the State
Last Monday’s Chronicle reported Minister Robert Persaud as saying: “show me your company and I’ll tell you who you are.” Interesting indeed, for many of Persaud’s colleagues in this administration have been revealed in American intelligence documents and courtrooms to have kept the company of hard-core criminals. White collar corruption is one thing, and not uncommon among governments; it is quite another for government officials to cavort with drug dealers, facilitate arms dealing, protect drug lords, encourage money laundering and set up death squads. Guyanese still do not know the full extent of the PPP’s ties and activities, but the little that has become public through various trials in the US is horrific enough.
At the centre of this firestorm is Roger Khan, a man likened by US intelligence to the notorious Pablo Escobar. Khan was a drug trafficker with ties to Colombian cartels and high-level Surinamese convicts. At his trial in Brooklyn, Khan pleaded guilty to trafficking in 150 kilogrammes of cocaine, witness tampering and gun-running. Governments that adhere to the rule of law devote resources to apprehending and punishing criminals. Under the PPP, however, law enforcement turned a blind eye to Roger Khan’s activities. Evidence led at Khan’s hearing described Suriname as a “law-abiding jurisdiction” while key PPP officials were excoriated for their inactivity in relation to Khan. Special Agent Cassandra Jackson of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) told the court, in utter disbelief, that whereas Suriname was actively looking to apprehend Khan, “Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs … Gail Teixeira formally indicated to Suriname that the [Guyana] government had “no interest” in seeking Khan’s return at that time.”
Worse, according to US intelligence, senior members of the PPP administration actually socialized with this criminal! Thanks to Wikileaks the public read in cables sent by Chargé Michael Thomas that Roger Khan was “frequently seen entertaining President Jagdeo at social venues around Georgetown”, that other “high-level narco-traffickers” were seen entering and leaving State House, that senior government officials “socialize with drug traffickers”, and that Jagdeo cut ribbons to open businesses built with drug money.
The government’s association with criminals was not confined to mere ‘entertainment’ and endorsement. According to testimony given in the US, the Minister of Health facilitated Khan’s purchase of sensitive eavesdropping equipment. When confronted with documents bearing his signature, the best that Minister Ramsammy could come up with was a Shaggy defence (“it wasn’t me”). Some of this equipment along with an arsenal of weapons was seized by army ranks in December 2002, and in June 2008 Jagdeo said that the equipment was in police custody – yet somehow, this same equipment ended up back in the possession of Roger Khan, or rather, that of his lawyer Robert Simels! Unforgettably, Simels was convicted in the US for conspiring to kill a witness against Khan.
US intelligence as reported both at Khan’s trial and in secret cables reveals that Khan’s activities extended beyond gun running and drug trafficking. He was connected to a ‘phantom squad’ allegedly orchestrated by another PPP Minister to crack down on crime. Some Indo-Guyanese look the other way when this is raised, crediting the two with restoring order in the country. But nothing can be more misleading or dangerous. The Guyana Human Rights Association estimated that the phantom squad was responsible for the murders of at least 200 men of African descent, a figure echoed by US intelligence. However, Khan’s involvement had nothing to do with crime-fighting, and as was stated at his trial in Brooklyn, “Khan might have posed as a self-proclaimed law enforcer but in fact waged his own drug-driven gang war.”
Other facts in the public domain are equally damning. The US State Department caused Henry Greene’s visa to be revoked. According to US cables, intelligence relating to Greene’s activities was shared with Jagdeo and Luncheon, but nevertheless Jagdeo insisted on appointing Greene as Commissioner of Police in July 2006. Other Ministers of the PPP government, including Ronald Gajraj and Clement Rohee, have had their US visas revoked – and not for overstaying in the USA.
In Jamaica and St Lucia, where this has also happened, the officials involved all resigned, but PPP Ministers and officials shamelessly remain in office, apparently not seeing themselves as accountable to the Guyanese people. So compromised is the PPP, evidenced by their refusal to apprehend major drug dealers and appointing tainted officials to high office, that successive US diplomats have frankly expressed their frustration. Another US Chargé, Karen Williams, despaired in one cable to Washington: “….donor countries should consider the [PPP] government’s high tolerance for corruption and Jagdeo’s repeated demonstration that he will not take a stand against it.” Thus it must have been his own corrupt administration that Clement Rohee was thinking of when he declared at a public meeting in Georgetown last week, “These people nah gat conscience. Like cockroach eat out dem conscience. These people nah got shame?”
Altogether, Jagdeo’s record is abysmal. It has been marked by rampant corruption, vindictiveness and abuse of critics. Saddest of all, however, is the criminalisation of the State, a novel development in our history. It is thus entirely fitting that Jagdeo himself has likened the Press to carrion – for carrion only feed on decaying matter. And that is exactly what the PPP has come to embody under him.