Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 02, 2011 Letters
Dear Editor,
I read Ms Lurlene Nestor’s letter, “KhemrajRamjattan’s Bath settlement call was ill advised,” (KN 01-22-11) in which she dealt with Mr Ramjattan’s request to Indo Guyanese not to fear Afro Guyanese. I write this letter not to defend Khemraj, nor to rebut Ms Nestor, but rather to express my own views on the question of racial fears, and indeed the fear of the all Guyanese people.
There is the general fear by all Guyanese of the criminals, the fear of the Government by all to criticize the regime, the fear of the narco death squads by Afro Guyanese, and the fear of politically inspired violence against Indians by some Afro Guyanese. I shall not go back into the social unrest of the 1960’s. I shall start with the violence against Indo Guyanese in the aftermath of the 1997 elections.
After the PNC lost the 1997 elections it embarked on street protests which degenerated into thuggery against Indo Guyanese on several occasions in 1998 and 1999. Politically inspired kick down the door bandits soon surfaced and in the two years hundreds of attacks against Indo Guyanese were carried out that left scores of businessmen dead.
The perpetuators were identified as Afro Guyanese. The PPP regime, led by Janet Jagan, Moses Nagamootoo, Clement Rohee, Donald Ramotar, Ralph Ramkarran, and Gail Texeira, went into denial mode. They told various audiences in New York that it was not true that Indians were being brutalized and that the businessmen who were killed were drug lords.
The PPP did absolutely nothing to restore law and order. It refused to invite the UN to send peace keeping troops. However at the 2001 elections the same PPP at bottom house meetings and mandirs told the Indians that if they did not vote PPP “ the black man them gun get back power and them gun rob and rape you all.”
The Indo Guyanese voted enbloc in 2001 to retain the PPP in government. Again violence was unleashed on the hapless PPP supporters. Again the PPP refused to call in UN troops. The 2002 jail break led to war being waged on Indo Guyanese especially on the East Coast of Demerara. Yet the PPP did nothing to protect its supporters and restore law and order.
The PPP did nothing because the regime itself was not threatened and it could afford the Indian casualties so long as it remained in office. By the end of 2002 the police and army came under attack. The PPP now felt threatened and had to take action to protect itself.
The lawful course of action for the PPP was to ask for UN peace keeping troops. However it meant the PPP would have had to relinquish some control of the state and that it was not prepared to do. The regime instead entered into an unholy alliance with the narco lords who then waged war on the Afro Guyanese gunmen encamped in Buxton.
By the time the threat to the government had passed nearly two hundred young Afro Guyanese lay dead. After all the mayhem the PPP has still not taken any lawful and constitutional action to address the concerns of both communities.
Instead, with no threat of insurrection, and an effete opposition, the Jagdeo regime ensconced itself in absolute power. The narco squads were used to assassinate Afro activist Ronald Waddell and Indo Minister Sash Sawh who had held up the major drug lord concessions in the hinterland.
These murders drove fear into the hearts of labour, political, and social activists. The regime also used the treason charge on two groups of Afro Guyanese to imprison them, further invoking fear in citizens. But the fear does not stop there.
Massacres were conducted at Lusignan, Bartica, and Lindo Creek. Only the political elite knows the identity of the murderers. The crime pandemic just got larger and larger under the Jagdeo dictatorship. Today all the ethnic groups are being affected by common gun toting criminals with murders and robberies being the order of the day. Guyana is one big camp of fear at all levels.
Yet the Jagdeo/PPP government has done nothing to stop the crimes and allay the fears. In fact the regime has refused British aid to the Police Force and it has denied the US DEA permission to operate in Guyana.
Compare the PPP’s actions with those of other Caribbean countries which have accepted police aid from the British, Canadians, and Americans. What is the motive of the Jagdeo/PPP government in refusing aid to our Police Force? Who benefits from the rampant crime? Who benefits from a fearful society? Who are building mansions and amassing fortunes? Certainly not the sugar workers, nor the bauxite workers, nor the poor civil servants, nor the Amerindians.
But come election time the very PPP will once again give Indo Guyanese voters the ultimatium: “either yuh vote PPP or the black man gun get back power and rob and rape you all.”
The exploitation of Indo Guyanese fears by the PPP will have to be addressed at the next elections by all opposition parties. Indians will have to be educated about how the PPP has been exacerbating their fears. They have to be told that they must not let fear of Afro Guyanese cause them to vote PPP because the PPP is really the cause and beneficiary of such fears.
Allow me the opportunity to say to the current PPP executive, “ I told you so.” If the PPP had accepted and implemented the national security plan that I designed in 1990 at Dr Jagan’s request then Guyana would have been spared all the social unrest and wanton political killings. I had proposed to replace the Police Commissioner with Mr Paul Slowe, seek UN and British help in rebuilding the Police Force, expand the People’s Militia into every district, amend the law to enable the Militia to do policing duties, from a special anti terrorist squad to deal with armed bandits, give the US DEA full scope to operate in Guyana, enact a Freedom of Information Bill to help fight corruption.
My plan was given to Dr Jagan and Mr Clinton Collymore who for years was the PPP’s shadow Minister of Defence and Home Affairs in Parliament. I am aware that Messrs Rohan Singh, ex GDF Captain Ronald Sami, and ex GPM captain Neville Sami also read the plan. All were in high praise of my proposals. However the capable and competent Clinton Collymore was side lined by Ms Janet Jagan who was vehement in keeping the police status quo, especially the Commissioner. Only she, Laurie Lewis, and God know why she wanted it that way.
It was under Mr Lewis’s reign over the Police Force that the violence in the latter 90’s and early 2000’s unfolded.
Malcolm Harripaul
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