Latest update March 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 07, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
I received a call from Mark Benschop. He said, “Freddie, Robeson Benn is contesting local government
elections and is a member of the Elections Commission.” I immediately advised Benschop on two pathways; form a working alliance with other contestants to denounce Benn and stage a picket outside GECOM head offices. Then I indicated a column would follow the next day.
I was enraged. For me, it was a conflict of interest but more than that, Robeson Benn is one of the persons in this world I have no appreciation for. Robeson Benn is one of the persons in this life whose hands I would refuse to shake. The reason is the authoritarian use of power against the poor and powerless
I did the column and was ready to submit when hours after I got another call from Benschop. It was not Benn but his son that was a candidate. I scrapped my column. But Benn is among many in the power structure during the PPP’s reign under the Jagdeo presidency I will continue to write about and analyze.
I would like to name some of them – Jagdeo, Ramotar, Rohee, Teixeira, Bibi Shadick, Nirmal Rekha, Charles Ramson, Priya Manickchand, Mark Ramotar of the Chronicle, deceased Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, Phulandar Kandhai, Kwame McCoy, Roger Luncheon. I would put Benn high up the list. Robeson Benn during the PPP’s hegemony typified oligarchic politics. I resented deeply the pursuit by Benn’s Ministry, of poor roadside vendors.
I come now to the lady in the photo. In April last year during the election campaign this lady came to my gate. It was about midnight. My driveway is a bit far from my gate. From my windows in the night, if I look toward my gate I would not be able to tell if there is a vehicle on the road. The large Bougainvillea plants on the fence obscure my view of the street on which I live.
She yelled out my name in a frantic mode. It was late at night and this lady was at my gate. Since it was election time and I was on the campaign trail, naturally I was afraid and so were my family. She kept yelling out, “Come Mr. Kissoon, come and see what Robeson Benn people doing to me.” I opened my door and asked her what was going on. She said Robeson Benn men seized her goods on the seawall.
I was confused. Could this be a trick? Could I be harmed? Since I was at my door far from the gate, I shouted to her to go to Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News. I closed my door and forgot the incident ever happened. I wasn’t going to talk to a stranger at my gate at the midnight hour during the country’s most historic and important national elections. Not with the attacks I suffered under the PPP Government.
A few weeks ago, I was walking my dog on the beach outside the Eve Leary police buildings. As I came off the beach to the road to go to my car, this lady left her vending stall and came up to me. She was smiling. She said, “Mr. Kissoon, I am the person you refused to talk with”. I asked her to explain. She did. She gave me her name, Violet Semple.
I apologized profusely, but I was candid with her. I was afraid. She said she understood. Then the description began of the harassment she suffered under the oppressive hands of the Ministry of Public Works under Robeson Benn. She said that one night they came and took all her goods. She intoned how devastated she was, because several days before she had borrowed money to buy the goods. Everything was confiscated.
What this country went through under the Jagdeo regime was horrifying and psychically lacerating. I cannot honestly say I have fully recovered, even though they are out of power. This woman was vending on the seawall for many, many years. What traffic was she obstructing?
But it is important to note she was not the only victim. As she spoke to me, others came up. The story was the same – “bruk up dem stalls and seize de goods’ were the words that came out of the mouths of Mr. Benn’s crew. Interestingly, as Benn’s hammer fell on vendors all over Guyana during Jagdeo’s tyranny, the satirical column of KN, “Dem Boys Seh” referred to him as “Bruk Up Benn.”
The 2015 elections results bruk up Benn, Jagdeo and all of dem. Once again, a sincere apology to Ms. Semple. I hope authoritarian power never hurts you again.
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
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