Dear Editor,
Former President and now Vice President and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Bharrat Jagdeo, my friend has deemed it proper and necessary to mention me in extenso in his recent press briefing. I am flattered and fascinated by so much attention paid to me. From the onset, let us be reminded of my good friend, the Vice President, who refers to me as a fossil. May I remind him that the exciting science, Paleontology, is the study of fossils, which are priceless when found and identified. So again I thank my good friend for elevating me in that rare and valuable category. I thank him for his generous dilation but then that’s what friends are for.
Beyond that, he must know that my life rests on the foundation of truth and analysis of Guyana’s political history. My good friend, the Vice-President, has the habit of speaking ex-cathedra. In addition, President Ali and others are now utilizing the technology and tactics of Goebels and McCarthy which is to repeat untruth often so that others would soon come to accept their utterances. The tactics, methodology or what have you is to make absurd statements, often enough so that the gullible would accept it to be facts, as was the case at Babu Jaan and elsewhere.
It is no more than the figment of my friends and others. Their attack on the independent media is now traditional. The PPP assault on the Guyana Human Rights Association is not surprising. The attempts to destroy the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly (IPADA) – Guyana by denying its funding, agreed to and accepted earlier (see the 2023 Budget). In spite of the mauling of the PPP top brass about this One Guyana story, the hostility towards the question of Reparation is not surprising. After the Lusaka Conference, when the PNC moved to Parliament to fulfill its promise to help in the struggle against apartheid in Southern Africa, a modest sum of fifty thousand ($50,000) dollars annually was proposed. The PPP said, we could not afford this. So who are they trying to fool?
It appears to me that Joey Jagan was right when he stated that the PPP is using his father’s name for dishonourable purposes. They are trying to gain political mileage so the latest foray which I heard is that Burnham was on the payroll of the CIA. I plead with the purveyors of this political ploy to provide the evidence. On the specific question relating to Dr. Jagan, I have publicly made it clear that I’ve always shown respect for Dr. Jagan’s integrity and commitment, for his ideological support for communism in the stressful days of the Cold War, but that could not allow us to proclaim him Father of the Nation.
It is time the hierarchy of the PPP avoided abusing those who are neither their sycophants nor the ill-informed and settle down to allow for the working of our Constitution to be manifested. It is time for them to recognize the need for meaningful consultation with the Opposition in and out of Parliament. By way of example, if the PPP top brass wish to demonstrate that they believe in the truth , democracy and the trumpet call of One Guyana, let them end this suffocation of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) so that citizens will have an opportunity to learn how state funds – the people’s money are being spent.
For me, growing old but I assure him not cold, is an honour and I hope that when he advances chronologically to the late 80s, that he would be able to have many children and descendants who are proud as mine are of his prowess and service to the Nation. Dear Editor, I thank my friend for placing me in the spotlight and assure him that I will continue along with the independent media and others to shine light and to pierce the darkness threatening the future viability of Guyana.
After listening to the speeches at Babu Jaan and press conferences, where the same administration disallows teachers and students from attending an exhibition, which referred to our first Executive President, but had no difficulty in mobilizing teachers and students to attend a similar event at Babu Jaan. They say different strokes for different folks. Dear Editor, I paraphrase the perspicacity of a respected fossil. Pity our Nation whose statesmen are jugglers.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green
Elder