The ‘Dogs of War’ and their fear of the AML/CFT Bill

NON-passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill will only benefit terrorists, cartels, criminals and money launderers; so, who is controlling Guyana’s “Dogs of War?”The Burnham USA/UK team let loose the “Dogs of War” on Guyana with the infamous X-13 Plan, when the two countries decided that of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, the latter was the “lesser of two evils”, thus precipitating the most destructive era in the history of Guyana, barring none, when the Guyanese nation almost self-destructed because of the machinations of two unscrupulous and merciless global superpowers and a decadent and power-drunk local despot.
Today those wounds in the soul of the nation are being healed, slowly but surely, although the “Dogs of War” are again ramping up the crime wave. However, only those who own the dog can call off the dog; and there are many promises of “addressing the security problem” in Guyana.
The aging but ambitious Granger is now trying to portray himself as a career soldier who was patriotic to his country; but which patriot wages war against his own people?
As one letter writer says, “…[He] will now have to explain his role as Forbes Burnham’s Political Liaison Officer at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), and in the 1973 seizure of ballot boxes by the GDF that gave the PNC a two-thirds majority in Parliament.”
As the writer goes on to say, “Even the PPP has never been able to amass a two-thirds majority in any election with their superior numbers, but the PNC did it in 1973, with a little help from their loyal friends in the GDF.
“It is not good enough to sweep this issue under the rug by explaining how loyal a soldier Granger was… only following orders. Professional ethics and his conscience should have forced him to resign from the GDF rather than be part of a machinery that disenfranchised so many Guyanese, and stole the elections from the PPP.”
By placing his career above the interest of the Guyanese people; by remaining loyal to Burnham and the PNC; and by his continued silence over the years on the GDF-executed electoral fraud in 1973; and by publicly pronouncing, at regional and international fora, the right of the army ranks to mercilessly gun down unarmed PPP supporters who were only trying to protect the integrity of the ballot boxes that were being hijacked by army personnel, David Granger has forfeited his right to question the decisions relative to any matters of State, or to take issue with any matter of national interest.
Whether an active or inactive participant of the murderous activities of the dictatorial PNC regime, former President Jagdeo’s contention that Granger has “blood on his hands” does have some merit.
Granger was also security advisor to Desmond Hoyte during the worst election rigging in the history of Guyana, superseding any of Burnham’s efforts; and he strategized many of the policies that kept this nation captive and subjective to PNC bullyism and dictatorship, with the result that every Guyanese family suffered unimaginably, except for a special few elites who were provided luxurious lifestyles, much State property, and access to every type of foodstuff imaginable that the people of the land had to line up in long queues for, especially as a result of Hoyte’s much-touted Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), nicknamed “Empty Rice Pots”, and which froze the wages of public servants at $2,000.
That is, until Dr. Cheddi Jagan, upon his accession to office, told the IMF to put their draconian conditionalities where the sun doesn’t shine, and re-opened wages and conditions negotiations for the labour force, because the PPP has always been a working-class party, and Dr. Jagan, who has always championed the causes of the downtrodden, refused to bow to the might of the IMF juggernaut.
Granger’s platform during election hustings was security; so, will this aging presidential aspirant call off the “Dogs of War”? Or is it in his best interest to increase the pressure on the ruling party, as per the past strategies of the PNC, which ramped up the crime wave through the X-13 Plan and the “Slo fiah, mo’ fiah” strategy of Desmond Hoyte, while calling on their “kith and kin” in the joint services, whom they consider their personal property, as they do their electorate?
His record is there for all to see, for those who want to see, and for those who want a country that is free from fear of the machinations of aging and ambitious glory-hunters.
The army put him out to pasture, but he has already eaten up all the grass, so now he wants to devour the nation. Linden is a prime example of political opportunism at the expense of the nation and the development of Guyana; and, ironically, every time the PNC — currently in its reconfigured avtar as APNU — alongside its partner, AFC, rampages, it is their own support bases that suffer the most; except when they are burning down businesses out of the sphere of their own communal networks.
So, while they use their supporters as “Dogs of War”, they fail to realise they are decimating their own people’s interests; or maybe that is their target to justify their perennial claims of PPP neglecting PNC strongholds; destroy the infrastructure and developmental/investment climate, then cry “foul”.
But the only foul thing is the continuum of destruction the combined Opposition leaves in its wake every time it lets loose the “Dogs of War” on the nation; and then they sanctimoniously wash their hands of the resultant fracas like Pontius Pilate. But like Christ, the nation always rises again; and no doubt the Linden episode will soon be relegated to one more instance of the PNC’s “Dogs of War” let loose on the nation.
But will the PNC/APNU/AFC coalition have mercy on the Guyanese nation and support the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill? Or will its blackmailing tactics for a raft of amendments disadvantageous to the people of this country, who are being held to ransom by their intra/extra-parliamentary tactics, be successful diversionary tactics for them to reject the Bill once again to satisfy those with vested interests in the non-passage of this Bill, so that what Former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo termed “The Corbin Syndrome”, which is their propensity to daub their mess on others, prevail?