Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 23, 2010 Letters
Dear Editor,
From all that is unfolding in our political arena in this pre-election period, it seems that the target for elections 2011 is not to remove the PPP from office but to destroy the PNCR.
Generally, election struggles involve a battle between opposing parties to see which one will be elected to form the government. Usually the party in power is the target of individual and combined forces and they face a big challenge of having to ward off attacks from various sources.
So far election 2011 in Guyana appears to be unique in that it does not appear to be following this campaign model of behaviour and instead the contenders all seem to be willing to give the PPP an opportunity for re-election, being more preoccupied on fighting among themselves over every conceivable reason.
Coalition efforts are being sabotaged by the AFC for their own expansionist drives and the PNCR is being distracted by internal power struggles that should have ended since the last Congress.
Who or what is behind these maneuvers to create conditions that will see the PPP re-elected to office and the opposition fragmented is not hard to determine when you evaluate who stands to benefit from the results. Simple mathematics will let us know that regardless of how you reconfigure the opposition that will pose no numerical threat to the PPP given our tradition voting patterns which results in racial endorsements and encampments.
At present there are three main opposition parties of which African voters are divided between the PNC and the AFC while the Amerindian votes were captured in the main by GAP. The Indian votes remain with the PPP.
It stands to reason therefore that for there to be a change in government there must be a shift in the PPP base. It also stands to reason that the combined opposition would be targeting the PPP base, but this is not being done and instead the main target for 2011 appears to be destruction of the PNCR both from internal and external forces who are finding no difficulty getting funding, support and access to do the work of the PPP.
Given our racial and ethnic voting patterns, that must translate to some as an attempt to scatter the votes and therefore the electoral strength of African Guyanese. Given the PPP track record it could not be that the party has won favour with the masses nor that they have excelled in government. Instead the PPP regime is seen as the bloody regime of Guyana, the most corrupt, crime ridden and inept government of all times.
Rule of law has become compromised and lawlessness has become entrenched in the highest offices of the land. Right and wrong have no demarcation and good and evil deeds are accommodated blurring the lines of decency, eroding moral and social values and becoming functional as a political tool.
Those who target the main opposition are not serious about bringing much needed relief to this land and are more bent on either personal gain or indirectly distracting attention away from the present regime. The internal strife in the PNCR may be another orchestrated effort to indirectly aid the PPP regime.
Even if those who are at the forefront of it are not knowingly aiding the enemies of the party their very actions of creating internal chaos allows for this to happen. This is not to say that they must not express any grievance they have, they must do this within the parameters set by the party and not to make the party vulnerable to external enemies. They must not be overly preoccupied with being in the driving seat or showing that they would rather break up the party for selfish gain. They must find the target for 2011 and refocus their energies if we are to have a difference in this land. The PNCR is not the government. It is not responsible for the failure of the PPP government and it is the most potent and effective force to remove the PPP from government. Who or whatever is behind efforts to create disunity and chaos in the party or to further fragment its base is working in the interest of the present dictatorial regime not the people who need liberation.
Clearly, funding internal and external forces to target the PNCR are strategic PPP maneuvers to misdirect the forces and not make the PPP the 2011 election target. Those who fund the AFC do so for them to target the PNCR and those who fund internal chaos serve the PPP’s interest by appealing to the egos of a few.
Gary Drakes
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Burnham was way ahead of his time
Dear Editor,
I read with consternation a letter written by Rev. Gideon Cecil titled, “The wrong political ideology embraced by our first two leaders destroyed Guyana economically and socially”.
If the Rev Gideon is not to do violence to the lofty status of a reverend, he need be reminded that his title comes from the Latin ‘Reverendus’ meaning, worthy of Reverence, one to be respected, because of their capacity, among other virtues to deal with fact, speak and write truth.
First the Reverend objects to the very well written scholarly account by Barrington Braithwaite on Forbes Burnham. Those who follow B. B’s writings know that he is no sycophant.
I’ll avoid the tedium of dealing with all of the misconceptions and inaccuracies contained in Rev Cecil recent letter, but remind him that during the oil crisis of the 1970’s Guyana was among the non oil producing countries that suffered a sudden loss of foreign exchange, this destabilised many countries.
Next his amazing question what is rice flour? The idea then was to produce our own flour from grain grown locally.
Burnham’s idea to produce rice flour has been badly handled. Thanks to a relentless opposition at the time, even though there were millions in parts of Asia, India and Africa who did not have access to imported wheaten flour.
Had the project to produce rice flour not been suffocated, today we would have been proud citizens eating bread and pastries produced from grain grown on our own soil.
The Rev. does not know what rice flour is. Today rice flour is growing dramatically in popularity in the U.S.A. The company of Sage V Foods is now leading in its further development, basically using southern long grain rice, a similar strain of which Burnham asked the technical people to develop.
Does the Rev know that rice flour is hypo allergenic and therefore in much demand because of its qualities it is also used in cosmetics?
The good gentleman wants to know what is Rice Flour, I hope this helps him space and time, will not allow for his further education.
The trouble with Burnham was he was way ahead of his time, and did not have the patience to wait for ordinary mortals to catch up – elsewhere I referred to this as his major weakness.
Note another falsehood in his letter to SN. He makes the amazing assertion and I quote “if Burnham was the great leader as Mr. Barrington proclaimed him to be, then he should explain to the Guyanese nation why up until today there are not one million people in Guyana”.
This implication is absolute rubbish. I hope our young and the ill informed will not be deceived, by this rehashed propaganda. Where is the evidence?
Since the end of World War 1 in 1918, and more particularly, after the end of the 2nd World War in 1945, there was migration of Guyanese to Europe, North American and the Caribbean.
During the PPP regime 1957 – 1964 the majority of Guyanese of Portuguese and Chinese descent left this country for Canada and elsewhere.
I ask him to produce the evidence or statistics which would establish in his words, “A massive migration began of both Indian and African Guyanese in the Burnham era”. Not true – Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels contended that if you repeated a falsehood often enough the people will take it as the absolute truth. This is a case as in other areas of Guyana today.
Rev. Cecil only need to pass by the Canadian and American Embassies – 25 years after Burnham’s death, or better still spend some time at Timehri Airport.
It will be unnecessary for me to deal with some of his other absurdities, Mr. Braithwaite is absolutely correct when he says that Cecil’s first letter was written in a “historical vacuum”, his latest letter is in competition with Mills & Boon fiction stories.
Come on, My Dear Reverend be reminded of what the King said to Micaiah (2 Chronicles 18:14-15) “How much times must 1 make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord”.
Hamilton Green, J. P.
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Betrayal existed since the days of the slave trade
Dear Editor,
I comment on an article appearing in the SN relating to the comments made by Dr David Hinds on the occasion of Mr. Jagdeo’s visit to the village of Buxton.
I can see why Dr Hinds felt that the actions of certain African “Leaders” in the period leading up to this visit can amount to some sort of “betrayal”.
The truth of the matter is that those sorts of persons had existed ever since the days of the slave trade, and were perhaps the reason why there was a Slave Trade from Africa. I have had my own personal experiences with that same sort of betrayal. It exists and it is very deadly in its consequences. Take it from one who has “made it through the rain” on that score.
In so far as Dr Hinds thinks that this sort of political action by Mr. Jagdeo can amount to a claim by the PPP/C Party that they are entitled to an electoral victory then the most that I will say that it can only happen in their dreams this time.
I will be at the next general elections in this country. I will be there as the leader of a political party named The National Democratic Party of Guyana (NDPOG), along with a “Platoon” of very strong, competent and credible sons and daughters of Guyana.
The good people of Guyana will rise up, regardless of their race, or because of their race, and follow this new leadership that will help them all, collectively and individually, to develop each person’s innermost strengths and abilities. The people of Guyana need to know that the PPP/C government is afraid to announce an election date and is even more afraid to go to the next elections.
The social situation in Guyana is very likely to be somewhat different when that time comes. I can tell that from now.
The PPP/C party has been accused of playing the race card at election time. That is all right and good. It does not bother me in the least. The only thing that I will say about race is that no “White man” for sure will be coming to tell me how to play my game in this political struggle for my own survival. He cannot know what I and my generation is going through under this regime.
The limited financial resources of my friends, colleagues and myself in a country that offers one ethnic group no kind of economic sustenance, makes it imperative for me to await the announcing of the elections date before the major part of the operations of my party can swing into action.
Our future is assured. Good always triumph over evil. For those people who want to see better for yourself and for your children here in Guyana, all I will say to you is to trust in Almighty God and keep the faith.
Remember the Walls of Jericho and be your brother’s keeper.
Juliet Holder-Allen
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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