Anti-Gov’t lobbies, racist rhetoric driving Guyana’s crime wave
IF anyone is to follow the trends of Guyana’s political history, they would discover that an escalating crime wave and lobbying to derail developmental funding always correlate with this country’s political dynamics.
Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the ramping up of vitriolic, sometimes outright libellous and scandalous diatribes against the PPP/C Government and its functionaries, even technocrats merely fulfilling their respective mandates – a Government that those with vested interests are determined to remove – not necessarily by fair means, even taking their anti-nationalist, practically treasonous propaganda to international fora, is merely political in scope, with ambitious agendas being the driving force. As always, murderous criminal activities are rising in direct proportion. Former President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had no reservations in naming the propagators of criminal activities and treasonous, anti-developmental actions, but President Donald Ramotar has taken a softer approach by appealing to all protagonists to take the high road and put the nation first, which seems to be having no effect with those seemingly hellbent on taking the nation’s developmental paradigm on a downward trajectory if it would fuel their selfish ambitions and enhance their self-aggrandisement.
During his tenure, President Jagdeo had publicly declared: “Opposition elements should criticise the Government when we make mistakes, and we are not perfect. We do make mistakes sometimes and that (criticisms) is fair; but to have an assault on the Guyanese people through distortions is another matter. To openly lie and peddle falsehoods is not a right of anyone, and that is not fair. “If you listen to them carefully, their plans for Guyana – and for all of our people, is about what the PPP should or should not do – and it is all criticisms and negativity. They have never, ever presented a positive plan for fixing the problems of Guyana and for creating a better life for our people……They criticise us in Parliament that we are spending too much money on housing. When we took $4 billion to buy some land from GuySuco to produce some (additional) 10,000 house lots for Guyanese, they made a big issue of it in Parliament, criticising Irfaan Ali for this (initiative). They know only about criticisms, but not about positive things…We still have a long way to go, but we are getting there…more and more people are benefiting.” It is a general perception by impartial observers that the almost miraculous recovery from devastation and destruction to subterranean levels; and progressive economic growth and social development of Guyana under successive PPP/C Governments since the elections of 1992 are the factors that contribute to the programme of frenetic destructive actions and rhetoric by opposing forces, and the catalyst driving their relentless determination to derail the PPP/C Government’s developmental thrust, even if the people suffer as a result. That the Government’s developmental and people-empowerment initiatives are re-generating confidence in the administration, to the extent where communities in the opposition enclaves are reaching out with trust and hope to the administration for improved living conditions and enhanced lifestyles, is inimical to their self-interested and self-centred agendas for self-aggrandisement and self-empowerment, and they are attempting to destabilise this budding unity in the Guyanese nationhood, and the people’s trust in the administration by whatever way possible, even to blaming the Government for things of which those in the Opposition are culpable. There have been constant actions that are inimical to the people’s welfare. The Government has endured, and continues to have, a fight and a continuum of ridicule for its efforts to retain and sustain the sugar industry, with the goal of its eventual return to viability and profitability, primarily through the Skeldon modernisation plant, with detractors scornfully advising that the industry be closed down and/or privatised. Scant consideration is given by these detractors to the welfare of the in excess of 20,000 people who are employed directly in the sugar industry, as well as the many industries and individuals and families whose survival depend on the survival of the sugar sector. The Government tried to help two sectors with one act, injecting much-needed funds into GuySuCo to keep the sugar industry viable, and simultaneously acquiring land for 10,000 houselots to provide homes for poor Guyanese families. For this, the Opposition raked the Government, especially the young Housing Minister, over the coals in Parliament, even resorting to legal recourse in an effort to criminalise Irfaan Ali and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh – two of the most vibrant and hard-working young ministers of the PPP/C Government. Many members currently in Parliament, who were integral to the pre-1992 administration’s destructive policies – even rigged elections, today sanctimoniously accuse the President and other Government functionaries of corruption, with the intention of reversing Government’s developmental momentum; so they lobby at every possible forum with their lies, misrepresentation of facts, and misinformation, trying to stymie developmental initiatives by the Government. Among some of the projects Government detractors have attempted to impede are the National Stadium, the Princess Hotel, the Marriott Hotel, the Amaila Falls hydroelectricity project, the Skeldon sugar operations, the Specialty Hospital, the housing programme, funding from Norway and elsewhere for the LCDS, and the list goes on and on; and they have succeeded in either derailing outright or severely inhibiting the execution of these projects, to the detriment of all Guyanese. Their infamous list (dossier) of persons killed by what they term a State-sponsored Phantom squad, which names, alongside the deadliest and murderous criminals (the ‘innocent young men’ as proclaimed by the Opposition and hostile media) all the victims of the criminals, including sleeping babies murdered in their beds, people murdered by bandits, unarmed policemen, who had been murdered by the murderous goons, including the jailbreak five that they described as “innocent young men,” has been distributed worldwide to give the erroneous impression that the Government organises gangs to kill its own people, including members of its police force, when in fact it is sponsored terrorists spreading mayhem to destabilise a constitutionally elected Government. The recent events at Buxton, Linden and Agricola, and the sporadic outbreaks of violent criminal activities are prime examples of extra-parliamentary pressure tactics. They have done this in the past with the support of external forces that are still supporting the activities of the very people who once destroyed this country. The continual loss of arms and ammunition from army stores, including one very recent case, and many instances where army and police personnel, including senior ranks were implicated in criminal activity, are chilling indications that we are not quite out of the woods. The fact that Roger Khan was prosecuted in the USA, while other equally guilty Opposition members were treated as heroes and given sanctuary in the USA, along with their families, and the reports coming out from the likes of Gay McDougall, implicates the USA in some degree of collusion with Opposition forces against Guyana’s government. The recent actions of the current US ambassador and the presence of the then UK High Commissioner among Opposition ‘protesters’ massing in the streets immediately after the November 2011 elections, are grim warnings to the PPP/C that its traditional enemies – and the enemies of the Guyanese nation- may still be colluding to remove them from office, through extra-parliamentary strategies, with external funding through ostensible aid agencies. Guyanese need to think long and hard about where their own interest, and the welfare of their children and future generations lie, because supporting these destructive and anti-developmental agents would only serve to impede their own and the nation’s development.