Dear Editor,
The letter entitled `Mr Green and his party were willing participants and beneficiaries of the divide and rule policy’, written by Harry Hergash and published in Stabroek News on Monday, March 15, 2021, was drawn to my attention and I did not intend a response. However, my friend Malcolm, insisted on a reply.
This letter in response to mine, constitutes a cleverly crafted calumny.
On the question of ‘divide and rule,’ I attempted to place the question in its wider, global context and establish that this strategy of “divide and rule’ has its roots in human behaviour and that all of us are the victims of this policy.
Hergash seems incapable or unwilling to deal with this question at a higher level but is clearly obsessed with attacking my character. I forgive him.
How can he deem the imperialist policy of divide and rule as irrelevant?
Is he suggesting that when Guyana and other colonial territories gained their independence, that this policy simply disappeared?
His reference to classified documents is a ploy as ‘old as the hills’ and simply an off-used propaganda prop.
In this instance, ignoring the impact of the Cold War, which consumed countries like Guyana for at least three generations.
This gentleman then refers to the 1992 Elections and alleges that I objected to the Carter Center because I wanted to hold on, as he puts it, to power.
Dear Editor, for clarity, I state as follows – when the 1992 Elections were announced, I was among those who expressed concern for the involvement of Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center in our Elections.
I had no umbrage with the persona of President Jimmy Carter nor the Center, but the fact that their interpretation of ‘Free and Fair Elections’ seemed to mean regime change at any cost.
On Election Day itself, my wife and I voted at the Enterprise Primary School, Lodge. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., persons approached me complaining that they did not have the opportunity to vote because their names could not be found on the list being used by the Poll Clerk.
These persons contended that they had seen their names on the list posted on the lower flat of the said Enterprise School.
After checking the veracity of their statements, I complained to the Chief Election Officer who immediately dispatched one of his Assistant Elections Officers.
The officer soon verified that the persons’ names indeed appeared on the earlier list posted for public scrutiny, he removed that list and asked the Clerk to use that list instead.
The Clerk refused stating emphatically that they were instructed to use only the List supplied to them that morning.
The result, those persons who lived in my Polling District were not allowed to exercise their franchise.
This experience repeated itself in several parts of Region 4 and as was the case in West Demerara, the list used on Election Day 1992 arrived after 6:00 a.m., that is after the official opening of Poll.
This situation caused much disquiet and there were near riots by persons who were disenfranchised.
It appears that Mr. Hoyte accepted the proposal of a Carter operative that persons with identification cards and claiming that earlier seeing their names on the posted voter’s list should be allowed to vote by what was called a ‘tendered voting ballot.’
On enquiry it was stated that the tendered voting ballot would not be counted.
I approached Mr. Hoyte and in no uncertain terms told him that this proposal to have people use a tendered ballot was nonsensical and I could not be part of what I described to him as nonsense.
I said to him, since this denial of people’s constitutional right to vote seemed widespread, that he should call in the Commission, the Opposition and suspend voting until these obvious clauses were corrected.
Mr. Hoyte did not agree and the rest is history.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Hergash’s myopia and anxiety to draw evil arrows take no account of the verifiable facts and seems to rely on propaganda and rumour.
Mr. Hergash obviously knows little of me and my family. I never felt a threat of sanctions by the US.
Let me tell this gentleman something, which is known to my wife, children, relatives and friends, whatever years the Creator would give me to live I am happy and comfortable to spend those years right here in the land of my birth.
In fact, recently, because of that I have turned down offers to visit close family members in North America and again, without a scintilla of evidence, he crudely ascribes a statement I made to my being afraid of sanctions by the then US Secretary of State.
Of course, his folly is embellished when he talks about my frequent visits to the USA. Hogwash and nonsense. Of course, it is quite possible that he did not consult the dictionary nor lean upon tradition, when he used the word frequent.
I believe for several generations, long before the PNC, Burnham or I was in office, Guyanese had left these shores for a better life and perhaps, he can explain why irrespective of the government in office, Guyanese and the Caribbean people have moved north, for what they believe to be a better life.
There is always an attraction for greener pastures. No pun intended.
Guyanese have been moving north for a long time, and with established family ties abroad, this movement will continue and perhaps, I should be flattered that he can now blame his exodus and success abroad on humble me.
Migration has been a consistent pattern regardless of the political group in office.
Let him ask the US, UK and Canadian authorities for a list of applicants seeking permanent and temporary residence since the beginning of the 20th century.
If this gentleman has any pretentions or claim to academia, I advise him to get hold of an interesting book titled “Confederation to West Indies vs Annexation to the United States.” He will appreciate the traditional drift to the North.
He then accuses me of being complicit as a member of the UG Board of Governors. This matter has been fully ventilated and it is unfortunate that he should mention the name of Dr. Walter Chin, a decent medical practitioner, who as a member of the Board always sought to be objective.
I refuse to go into the gutter when he talks about Indians being beaten in West Coast Berbice. He obviously didn’t read my book ‘Pain to Peace – (1953-1964).” He behaves as though one ethnic group has a monopoly on who is beaten and who beats.
I plead with our young people to ignore the venom as expressed in this gentleman’s correspondence.
Finally, instead of writing vitriolic letters, let him pause, read, digest, analyze and seek to come up with writings that stimulate our young people to develop a sense of nationalism and quest for harmony.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
