Dear Editor,
Congressman Jeffries is apparently pushing the PNC agenda and operating off the PNC’s playbook, but he should be careful that he is not meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. He may have already crossed that line. If the PNC is complaining to US officials, they must come with clean hands, as Judge Judy would say. Mr. Jeffries knows the PNC does not have clean hands. No matter what Mr. Jeffries does he cannot sanitize the PNC which has an indelible stain as election riggers. An unrepentant PNC has no way to go. Mr. Jeffries should be mindful of the company he keeps. With the PNC, he is in bad company. The whole world witnessed how they tried to rig the 2020 elections in plain sight of the international observers. The five months of waiting for the PNC to concede and numerous court battles, traumatized a nation that had experienced the agony of PNC’s rigging for 28 years, when it was a dictatorship. So why is Mr. Jeffries so loyal to the PNC? Is it because the PNC operatives in New York are using the race card? Will Mr. Jeffries ask the PNC to abandon their rigging ways, if he is to be an honest broker? Suppose Indos complain that the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is dominated by one race of Guyanese, that the NIS office is denying NIS benefits due to them, and the Government does little to intervene, would Mr. Jeffries be concerned? Suppose Indos complain that the PPP has not diversified the state agencies dominated by people who usually support the Opposition PNC, would Mr. Jeffries be concerned? We are still to see a national diversity plan to address all the various inequities and anomalies in the society. The Ethnic Relations Commission continues to be a totally useless outfit gobbling up nearly $220 million a year, with nothing to show for it.
Looking at the evidence, I would not say the PPP Government is engaging in racist practices as happened during the Burnham/Hoyte era of “Paramountcy of the Party” when a PNC card was your passport to heaven. In the big areas of the GOAL scholarships and distribution of house lots, no one can deny these are fairly done. We have the most diverse cabinet ever. The Government does nothing to address imbalances in diversity in employment across state agencies and the status quo remains. Government responds with lightning speed to requests for help when they visit areas that consistently vote PNC. Contracts have been given to folks with little history of construction such as the $346 million Bamia School which is behind schedule, given to folks known in entertainment and football ahead of companies with construction experience. Apparently, some people want more of this model of awarding contracts. On the other hand, communities that usually support the PPP, complain that the Government ignores them and takes them for granted and that their response to their needs is slow, if any.
Blogger on the Stabroek News website Rani Meer said, “UN charter- ‘No State or group of States has the right to intervene or interfere in any form or for any reason whatsoever in the internal and external affairs of other States.’ Yet we have the USA doing this all the time. Hope Burke et al don’t bring Jeffries down if the Republicans get a whiff of him practising partisan politics with a racist slant in another country.” The Government of Guyana and its lobbyists should reach out to Republican US legislators to let them know what the NY Congressman is doing so he can be appropriately reprimanded, as needed. I will inform the Republican Congressional Delegation in North Carolina of Mr. Jeffries’ new friends and his association with a party known for rigging elections. All Guyanese abroad should be taking similar action.
For its part, the Government must engage the Opposition and be more inclusive. They must answer Opposition questions in Parliament and seek parliamentary approval for big money projects. That’s the “One Guyana” we seek. The Government must end its delusion that they can obliterate the PNC. Constructive engagement of all friends and foes makes us a stronger, democratic Guyana.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
