Dear Editor, Guyanese below the age of 35 have little or no knowledge of the atrocities that took place under the dictatorial PNC regime prior to 1992.

Last Sunday, Stabroek News reported on leaked confidential diplomatic cables sent by the US Embassy in Georgetown to US Missions in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica, expressing amazement at the level of bare-faced, blatant rigging that took place during the 1973 General Election.

Then, on April 28, 1975 a cable from the US embassy in Guyana to other US missions overseas, sent by US Ambassador Max V Krebs, commented on the breach of protocol as PNC officials took up positions ahead of Ministers of State and foreign diplomats at the Timehri Airport receiving line, while awaiting the arrival of Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda.

According to the Ambassador’s cable, this “illustrated the creeping de facto merger of party and state. The predominance for the first time of PNC flags over Guyana flags on the fronts of all government ministries and even on the appeals court building gave added public evidence of that trend”.

This was a direct reference of a seminal document that was presented by the then Prime Minister and PNC Leader, Forbes Burnham during the 1974 Sophia Declaration setting out the paramountcy of the PNC over the State.

In his cable, Ambassador Krebs described how the Zambian President and his entourage were driven from the Timehri Airport to Georgetown in a “fleet of Cadillacs and other US-built cars which were purchased specially for visits of foreign dignitaries”.

Sadly, Guyana seems to be heading down the road of party paramountcy again, and it appears that efforts are once again being made to subvert the professionalism of the GDF to facilitate this doctrine.

In a recent televised interview, Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, said it was brought to his attention that a significant number of the new army recruits were not admitted to the force through the regular recruitment channel, but instead, the GDF was instructed by the military-dominated APNU+AFC coalition government to admit them, an act he said, which brings back the dreaded memories of the Burnham era, when the GDF and Guyana Police Force were hijacked by political elements of the People’s National Congress (PNC). “If this is true,” the Opposition Leader added, “It will destroy professionalism in the army and career advancement based on merit, something we have worked hard to secure.” Jagdeo also believes this is part of a sinister plot to subvert free and fair elections in Guyana.

Readers may recall that I had repeatedly demanded that David Granger account for his role in the 1973 seizure of ballot boxes by the GDF which gave the PNC a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

On Election Day 1973, GDF soldiers opened fire at No 63 Village, Corentyne, killing 45-year-old Parmanand Bholanauth and wounding several others.

Jagan Ramessar, a 17-year-old youth was seriously wounded during the shooting, but instead of taking him to hospital, the police and GDF soldier transported him to the No 51 Police Station where they refused to provide him with medical attention. He died there after being further physically brutalised by police and soldiers.

This is the same rigged elections referred to earlier in one of the leaked diplomatic cables sent by the US Embassy in Georgetown.

David Granger never fully explained his involvement or knowledge in the seizure of those ballot boxes although he was at the time a political liaison to Forbes Burnham.

In his capacity, how could he not have known of the PNC plans to rig the election? Surely Burnham would have relied on his support to subvert the army. He later defended the killings of those defenceless civilians by his GDF ‘squaddies’, which prompted the March 18,2011 article in the Guyana Chronicle, “Granger endorsed the soldiers’ actions on elections day 1973”.

The author wrote: “In 2003, in Chile, Mr Granger presented a paper entitled “Civil Violence, Domestic Terrorism and Internal Security in Guyana, 1953 – 2003”, wherein he referred to the sinking of MV Sun Chapman when 40 Afro-Guyanese were killed as “the most alarming slaughter of the ‘disturbances’ between the period 1953 – 2004.”

Yet, nowhere in this work were the beatings, rape and murder of hundreds of innocent Indo-Guyanese residing in Wismar ever mentioned.

Isn’t it ironic that on June 27, 1974, a US diplomatic cable on the Guyana National Service described the then GDF Major David Granger as having the reputation of being an ideologue and “anti-East Indian racist.”

The Chronicle article continued, “How can shooting and then allowing two men to bleed to death simply because they demanded that the ballots be counted at the place of polls rather than taken away by the GDF be endorsed as “splendid” and “discretionary” behaviour?

Kaieteur News columnist Peeping Tom, whom I respect for his immense knowledge of history, recently made the following comment: “The Guyana Defence Force has a dirty and shameful past when it comes to politics in Guyana.  It should use its 50th Anniversary to scrub clean some of those dirty stains.”

And he asks, “Elections are going to be held in the context of declining popularity of the new government. Is the fear therefore, if as anticipated, the PPP dominates these Local Government Elections, that there is a risk of electoral fraud in the 2020 elections?”

Editor, it is precisely that fear that I appeal to our Chief of Staff, career officers, and all army professionals to resist any attempt by the Granger administration to subvert and destroy the professionalism of the GDF as was done in the past. But there is another fear that has the potential to threaten our democracy:

The role of the Ministry of Citizenship, headed by Winston Felix must be closely monitored. For if the political moles who are now employed at this ministry are encouraged to tamper with the information on birth certificates, there can never be free and fair election even if Gecom complies with a transparent and fair process of registering voters.

Gecom depends on source documents such as birth certificates for the accurate registration of voters. Once that is flawed, the entire process will be compromised.

Sincerely, Harry Gill MP