We like the Minister of Home Affairs

Dear Editor,
Recently, we find ourselves liking the Minister of Home Affairs, who is responsible for the security of the citizens. We like him not because he is doing a good job; no, he is not. Not because he has made a noticeable dent in the crime rate; no, he hasn’t. Not because he has made the city and country safer from drugs and crime and from the unwelcome drug barons and the barbaric murderers; no, he hasn’t. And not because he is intelligent.
So why do we like him? We like him because he is part of a PPP government which was installed on the hope of a new inclusive direction but which has gone on to prosecute an agenda of marginalization, greed, corrupt practices, opportunistic and ethnic triumphalism —in plain daylight and in the faces of the masses whom the PPP cabal have abandoned. We like him because he is an integral part of a PPP regime that is vindictive and cruel and with scandal after scandal, especially those involving financial corruption for the benefit of friends and family. And this government has betrayed the thousands of the swing voters who kicked the People’s National Congress (PNC) out of office in 1992 in hopes of more evenhanded, meritocratic, democratic, transparent and accountable governance. A government that will put the welfare of the people first and govern in the interest of all and not only in the interest of a selected few who are relatives, friends and supporters of the PPP. The minority PPP regime’s practice of exclusivism, vindictiveness and racial politics has no place in modern Guyana society.
But most of all, we like the Minister because of his weird persona as a Minister, his awkward and idiotic way of responding to questions from the media, his inability to explain himself properly, his ignorance of the facts, his lack of knowledge and for making foolish and unintellectual statements. How Mr. Rohee could be so hypocritical and deceitful to tell reporters that he did not know about the verbal and physical abuses which Miss Varshine Singh received from Jagdeo for over eight years? How could he be so silly to ask the reporters to tell him if it was recent? Ms. Singh made her abuses known to the public more than four years ago, so was he in a cave? Maybe, we should give him the benefit of the doubt because he might not know what the word “recent” means. Is he so phony that he is telling the public that no such discussions took place in his presence at Freedom House among his colleagues? If nothing else, we know about his gross incompetence as the Minister of Home Affairs, but it baffles us to know that he continues to display such ignorance and stupidity with very foolish statements. We also know that he is not college educated but one does not have to be a College graduate to be smart.
From his simple and silly statements, the minister appears to be someone who seems to be cut from a different fabric of cloth from the rest of the population where intelligence and honesty are concerned. For over a decade, the people have been accusing the Police of being corrupt and barbaric but he seems bent on pretending that he does not know about the accusations. He and his PPP cabal do not seem to care about the security of the people and the fear they are experiencing day in and day out.
An example of his gross incompetence was when he said that murders and armed robberies have reduced in Guyana during the past year. Other examples are his mismanagement of the Police Force and blaming the opposition, APNU, for sheltering and defending the criminals, and we can go on and on.
Jump high, jump low, no desperate propaganda stunt or PR spin on the state owned NCN television and Chronicle newspaper, both with only a handful of listeners and readers, will convince the people that the PPP is not corrupt, inept and unrighteous. And no one with a sound and rational mind would defend the cuss-down, vulgar and abusive behavior of Pyria Manickchand against the U.S. Ambassador Brendt Hardt. But Rohee did!  Guyanese from coast to coast are fully aware of how incompetent Mr. Rohee is and how vulgar and abusive Pyria Manickchand is, and they are frustrated and fed-up as to why this do-nothing President has not fired them from his cabinet as yet. Is he scared of his boss? Or is he afraid that the Jagdeoites will force him to resign as president?
Pyria Manickchand in defending her cuss-down, vulgar and abusive behavior in Parliament amidst boos from the opposition, and Clement Rohee’s letter in Stabroek News on July 11, make them even more foolish than we think. It appears as though they are sleeping with the Devil but it is the citizens who are embarrassed and are paying the price for their eccentric and devilish behavior. It is clear that the attitudes and ghetto-type behavior of the two ministers have not only sunk Guyana to an all-time low but they have also damaged the country’s image in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Not only Guyanese are embarrassed but they have distanced themselves from them a long time ago.
Now, it is sickening to know that Mr. Rohee has quoted Thomas Paine, the English-American Political Theorist, activist and author to support his diatribe. Is he aware that Paine promoted reason, free thinking and morality which do not exist in the PPP. So we caution him to go beyond the information he obtained from Wikipedia and do a more in-depth research to know more about the works of Paine and what he stood for.
And for him to say that Manickchand’s spoke to the lofty principles and ideals of Guyana’s freedom and independence is far from the truth. What she did was to cuss down the U.S Ambassador at his residence, which Rohee knows but has refused to accept because the Freedom House “group think” mentality does not allow him to criticize any of their colleagues. To say that Manickchand put the country first is not only revolting but is also a national disgrace. Who in the PPP has put Guyana first? Unless putting the country first means raping the Treasury to enrich themselves, relatives and friends, build mansions, giving Jagdeo a pension of $3 million per month, unlimited medical and travelling expenses, and as much vehicles and personnel as he wants, paying workers slave-like salaries/wages etc. Can Guyana afford such luxurious life style for a former president? This is three times more than what other leaders in the Caribbean would receive upon retirement.
It is up to the people to stop this madness by getting rid of the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal and put Guyana first.
Asquith Rose and Harish Singh