Selective memory can be embarrassing
I would not fool anyone by pretending that I am not politically-minded. I do have a stake in the politics of this country. But I also separate my politics from my journalism. I know what it is to be impartial, although time and time again someone in the political divide would label me with a broad political brush.
Just the other day, Member of Parliament Clement Rohee waxed warm with talk about disrespect in the National Assembly. He contended that the present administration introduced disrespect into the House. He must have had a rotten memory, especially since he claimed that he has been sitting in the House for decades and could not recall anyone from his party being disrespectful.
Surely he could not have forgotten that former President Janet Jagan sprinkled flour across the House during a debate. But worse, his leader Dr Cheddi Jagan tossed the Speaker’s mace from its holder on the table to the floor. That mace is the symbol of authority in the House.
Mr Jagan was asked to apologise and he refused. The Speaker barred him from speaking in the House until he did. Eventually it took the intervention of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Rohee also claimed that the members on his side never heckled any of the Opposition Leaders. Again I am forced to remind of at least one case that involved Cyril Belgrave and Desmond Hoyte.
The fact is that debates in the House are often rambunctious. People on both sides take the opportunity to remind speakers of past indiscretions, not that such should be the behaviour in the House. Suffice it to say that I have seen clips from other parliamentary settings in which there were fist fights.
I hear people accuse each other of hiring thugs to do their dirty bidding. Forbes Burnham got his share, but the People’s Progressive Party cannot claim to be Snow White. At this moment the party is claiming political harassment of some of its supporters, even as the police are investigating some untoward incidents.
There has already been an admission of dastardly behaviour involving Freddie Kissoon. No political party in the history of this country ever stooped so low as to hurl filth in the face of someone critical of it. The PPP did. The party may claim that the people acted on their own, but the very party offered them succor.
It was the very Clement Rohee who issued an edict to the police to leave Kwame McCoy alone during the recent elections. Anyone who touched McCoy would have to answer to him, he said from his seat as Minister of Home Affairs.
And there has been murder. The current investigations seem to suggest that the PPP had a hand in the death of political critic Courtney Crum-Ewing. The very people so involved were actually hatching a plan to kill the publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall. One of the men in custody actually sent a warning to Lall just about the time the then President Bharrat Jagdeo revoked some firearms Lall had issued to his personal security.
Far too often we point fingers at each other for transgressions when we are guilty of the same. I remember the days of political witch-hunt. People were sacked because they were perceived to be supporters of the then People’s National Congress Government.
Dr Roger Luncheon actually said to me one day that I was lucky to have gained employment; that there were people walking the streets kicking bricks. What manner of politician would vent its spleen on people who appear not to be supporters, then complain when it is visited with the same?
Right now, one of the founding members of the PPP is exhibiting the kind of behaviour to his ex-wife that no person should. The woman is now 88 years old, but she is finding the going rough. According to a letter the woman wrote, she filed for division of property forty years ago and the matter has not seen the light of the day.
She had to file that matter when J.O.F. Haynes was the Chief Justice. Since then there were Victor Crane, Keith Massiah, Kenneth George, Aubrey Bishop, Cecil Kennard, Desiree Bernard, Carl Singh and Ian Chang (acting). One of them actually made a decision to have this man pay maintenance. This man actually told the court that he was working for a certain sum of money when the truth was different.
This is a man who argued for justice in the courts on behalf of some of his clients, but when it is his turn the situation changes. I know that just recently he was seeking $300,000 from C.N. Sharma for a case that Steve Surujbally dropped. That is just one case. Imagine what he earns at the end of a year.
That is why when some people talk, the listener would merely shrug. It is a case of the priest or pastor telling the congregation how to live, but they would do the gods. Sin is something that visits the other person.
Anyhow, tomorrow promises to be interesting. There should be Kwame et al marching up the court steps. I am hearing that the police had a lot of knowledge even before there was the change in government. However, given the political situation they were reluctant or afraid to act. Everything is coming out in the open and the society can’t wait.
