What ethnic cleansing?

IT would appear as though the North American political disease of promulgating fact-free and evidence-free information has taken root in Guyana.

There has been an unsubstantiated, unfounded, outrageous and fabricated charge of ethnic cleansing of the public sector and government offices levelled against the Coalition Government by the opposition PPP. There has been no known attempt to provide any evidence or basis for this wild allegation, which is being loosely and persistently bandied about at opposition media conferences and at other forums. It is certain to also form part of the bottom-house whisper campaign.

Kaieteur News, on December 18, 2016, provides reportage on the PPP congress.

“The administration since taking office, Jagdeo accused, has decimated the work force of persons perceived to be PPP supporters. He said that the statistics will point to persons being “ethnically cleansed” from the ministries and other State agencies.”

Of course, no statistics have been provided since to substantiate this claim. None exist.

These are the facts:

Prime Minister and First Vice-President – Moses Nagamootoo
Third Vice-President and Minister of Public Security – Khemraj Ramjattan
Minister of Education – Dr Rupert Roopnaraine
Minister of Communities – Ronald Bulkan
Minister of Social Protection – Amna Ally
Minister within the Ministry of Finance – Jaipaul Sharma
Governor, Bank of Guyana – Dr Gobind Ganga
Ambassador to United States of America, Dr Riyad Insanally
Ambassador to China – Bayney Karran
Ambassador to Kuwait – Shamir Ally
Ambassador to Cuba – Halim Majeed
Auditor General – Deodat Sharma
Commissioner of Police – Seelall Persaud
Commissioner of Police (Acting) – David Ramnarine
Director of Public Prosecutions – Shalimar Ali-Hack
Chief Medical Officer – Dr Shamdeo Persaud
Advisor to President Granger – Dr. Jan Mangal
Chief of Staff, Office of the Prime Minister – Omar Bissoon
Advisor to Prime Minister Nagamootoo – Dr Rovin Deodat
Advisor to Minister Joseph Harmon – Geeta Chandan-Edmund
CEO, GuySuCo – Errol Hanoman
CEO, Guyana Energy Agency – Mahendra Sharma
General Manager, Guyana Gold Board – Lisa Ramoutar (daughter of Donald Ramoutar)
CEO, Cheddi Jagan International Airport – Ramesh Gheer
Director, Budget Planning – Sonya Roopnauth
CEO, NAREI – Dr Oudho Homenauth
Director-General, Civil Defence Commission – Col Chabilall Ramsarup
Chief Hydromet Officer – Bhaleka Seulall
Chief Labour Officer – Yoganand Persaud
CEO, Berbice Bridge Company – Omadat Samaroo
CEO, National Frequency Management Unit – Valmiki Singh
Legal Officer, Guyana Revenue Authority – Hessaun Nandlall (ex-wife of Anil Nandlall)
Regional Executive Officer, Region Three – Denis Jaikarran
General Manager (ag), Guyana National Newspapers Limited – Moshamie Ramotar
Editor-in-Chief (ag), National Communications Network – Sharda Lall
Editor-in-Chief, Guyana Information Agency – Shanta Goberdhan
Deputy Mayor, Georgetown – Lionel Jaikarran
Deputy Mayor, Bartica – Kamal Persaud
Chairman, National Insurance Scheme – Dr Surendra Persaud
Chairman, Guyana Power & Light – Robert Badal
Chairperson, GO-Invest – Patricia Bacchus
Chairperson, Customs Tariff Tribunal – Claudette Singh
Chairman, NARIE – Major-General (Rtd) Joe Singh
Chairman, Firearm Licensing Approval Board – Roopnarine Sukhai
Chairman, Dependent’s Pension Fund – Col. Jawahar Persaud
Chairman, National Sports Commission – Ivan Persaud
Chairman, Demerara Harbour Bridge – Shabir Hussain
Director, Guyana National Broadcasting Authority – Schecherazade Ishoof-Khan

State boards are literally loaded with a large number of Indo-Guyanese. The list is unending.

If there is ethnic cleansing in government, why are the persons listed above and the thousands of others who remain in their jobs or who have been appointed since still in position?

It is true that persons have been replaced and the services of some have been terminated, but none of this was done on the basis of ethnicity. Any such assertion constitutes a dangerous attempt at divisionist politics which seeks to pit persons of different ethnicities against each other and can be the spark to instigate ethnic insecurities.

What the opposition leader is not acknowledging is his own record, which he appears to be attempting to whitewash. Under his presidency and that of his successor, there was systematic exclusion of persons of a certain ethnicity from a certain category of positions; that through nepotism, preferential facilitation and manoeuvring, political surrogates and lackeys were loaded into strategic offices. There was little, if any, consideration of suitability and capacity, the only requirement seemed to have been political loyalty.

What in fact was inherited by the Coalition Government was a lopsided public service packed with PPP political underlings and proxies, who did not resign in the aftermath of May 2015 as would have been expected and many of whom, to this day, remain ensconced in the system. It is widely believed, with more than good reason, that many of these persons are taking political directives from outside of government, engaging in daily subterfuge, sabotage and internecine undermining of government’s work. There have been several public instances of this, at the Attorney General’s Chambers and other prominent government offices.

This government continues to be considerate of these persons’ livelihoods and accommodate these political proxies, to its own daily detriment as the duly elected administration.

What is depraved and a perversion of reality, is that with its own reprobate record, the PPP could level such a charge.

The situation was so grim and hopeless for Afro-Guyanese under the former PPP regime that in 2011, while Mr. Jagdeo was still President, his Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon, is reported in one of the daily newspapers as having confirmed, in court, that there were no suitably qualified Afro-Guyanese to be posted as ambassador overseas. That forms part of Mr Jagdeo’s presidential legacy. Yet, there is more.

Recounting Mr Jagdeo’s divisive comments in New York, writing in a column of July 30, 2016, former Speaker of the National Assembly and high-ranking PPP Executive Committee member Mr Ralph Ramkarran SC, submitted, “[T]his is a wholly new dimension to the PPP’s agenda, namely, its formal and official transformation by Mr. Jagdeo into an ethnic party representing exclusively ethnic interests. Cheddi Jagan must be turning in his grave!”

Referring to Mr Jagdeo’s comments at Babu Jaan in 2015, in a letter to Stabroek News (March 11, 2015), attorney-at-law and accountant Christopher Ram, wrote, “The specifics of what he had to say about the opposition constituted naked racism.”

It needs to be said so that it may be put to rest. It does not require diplomatic or charitable language. For too long in Guyana we have been hesitant, resistant and reluctant to confront that which we need to.

Perhaps controversially, it requires crudeness and being direct about the issue. Someone needs to bell Mr Jagdeo for his irresponsible nonsense. And so here it is. Mr Jagdeo’s accusations of ethnic cleansing against this government is presumptuous political posturing. It lacks coherence, any grounding in reality and credibility. It is garbage, germinated in genuine desperation for continued political relevance.