Joe Harmon and my wife; the AFC and my country

There was a moment of complete disbelief when I read a part of Joe Harmon’s explanation for awarding Brian Tiwarie the title of business advisor. Harmon waxed lyrical about people like Tiwarie who gave support to the campaign. He said the successful party must do things for them in return. You may disagree with me, but I don’t think there is any invalidity in that statement. This is politics (though Tiwarie was a special case, contextually speaking; that is, because of the nature of Jagdeo’s reign)). It happens all over the world without exception.
President Barack Obama continues to dish out favoured status on many persons who contributed financially to his two campaigns. Many of them were given ambassadorial posts. The fault with Harmon is not his statement but his politics.  Harmon found time and effort to locate Tiwarie and reciprocated. But what about the hundreds of APNU supporters who Harmon forgot to locate and reciprocate with? It is because Tiwarie is a multi-billionaire and those that Harmon chose to forget are not even millionaires in the Guyanese context?
I know people who have mentioned to me about the refusal of Harmon and other Ministers to return their calls and e-mails. I am referring to people in top positions in the private media, trade union movement and business, all of whom were on very good terms  with the leadership of APNU and the AFC over the long years. I chose not to name names, because I don’t have their permission. Harmon couldn’t find time to respond, but he did locate Tiwarie, and, by his own admission, said people like Tiwarie who contributed to the election campaign ought to be patronized (my word).
The complaints against the Coalition Government are mounting and much of it centres on the neglect of its base and its hardcore support.  Once I remain a political activist, I will always remember that line from the James Bond movie, “Thunderball.” Bond went to bed with one of the Spectre agents knowing full well, who she was. She felt Bond had found her attractive, but Bond brought her down to reality by telling her that sleeping with her was part of his job. But it was the way he put it that got the lady violently upset. Bond told her; “My dear girl, don’t flatter yourself. What I did this evening was for King and country. You don’t think it gave me any pleasure, do you?”
I have never been contacted any junior Minister or Senior Minister or any AFC or APNU or WPA leader for any idea of how I can contribute, where I would like to serve, if I need employment, if I have any governance ideas etc. Not even a one-minute telephone call. I wasn’t surprised. I may not be a great analyst, but I think I am a competent one who understands Guyana’s politics. But I wasn’t looking for reciprocation the way Harmon patronized Tiwarie.
I campaigned hectically in the election battle and I did it for “King and country” not out of pleasure of doing it for the AFC or APNU. I owed it to the safety of myself and family to remove a regime I felt had endangered my life and would have continued to do so if it had returned to power.
It is not my style to make contacts with people with power. I fear thoughts of sycophancy. I hate sycophancy. I have fought sycophancy my entire life. So I have stayed away from power since May 2015. In all fairness to Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, he did ask me in the presence of Vincent Alexander if I want to return to teaching at UG. And I believe it was Dr. Roopnaraine who nominated me to be a member of the National Commemoration Commission (see my column, “Why I refused to be on the National Commemoration Commission,” KN, October 25, 2015).
I just wondered about historical justice when the APNU-AFC came into power. People were victimized and maybe a thought should have been given to them. I think my wife was collateral damage (in the PPP’s vendetta against me) when she was hounded out of her job at Go-Invest. Shouldn’t someone have contacted her and said “Mrs. Kissoon would you like to resume you post at Go-Invest?” I won’t answer that question because it is my wife; I could face the accusation that I am rooting for her. But speaking brutally frank, this government, especially and mostly the leadership of the AFC, have been very cruel to many persons I know who suffered terribly under the PPP and those ardent supporters who have been contemptuously neglected.  I guess not all campaign helpers were billionaires.