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Jan 13, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
I never professed to be a neutral commentator since I started doing social analysis in the Stabroek News and the Catholic Standard in the late eighties. There was nothing to be neutral about. I believed that the PNC Government under Hoyte had to democratize Guyana and that free and transparent national elections had to be unconditionally held.
A human being cannot be neutral in the face of wrongdoings that cannot be justified even philosophically explained.
It was the great Mohandas Gandhi who said that “Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.” It was for this reason I refused to shake the hand of Professor David Dabydeen on the occasion of the official celebration of the conferring of an honorary doctorate on Yesu Persaud at the Pegasus Hotel.
Glenn Lall, the publisher of this paper who witnessed the event told me that I was wrong to do that. But I believed in my action at the time. It was for this reason I refused to shake the hand of Donald Ramotar three years ago on the occasion of Glenn Lall’s birthday at the Princess Hotel. Senior reporter at this newspaper, Dale Andrews, who was present, was annoyed at my action and openly castigated me but I believed in my action the time.
It was for this reason I remained on my place on the bench during the daily recess at the President’s libel suit against me and this newspaper in the High Court. People from opposing sides of the political divide would greet each other and have friendly chats during the breaks. Not me. I couldn’t do that while those with power victimize innocent people in this country.
How does it look to be cozying up to the abusers of state power while three citizens of this land are in the remand for treason and after one year the preliminary inquiry is far from complete?
I may have my faults but I adhered to in the past and will continue to adhere to Gandhi’s great advocacy. I repeat it; “Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.” Within this framework, I cannot be a neutral commentator. As both a trained academic and a long-serving political activist in my homeland, I believe that the PPP is a deeply flawed political animal.
From 1992 even under Cheddi Jagan, the PPP’s style and philosophy began to undermine the strength of this land. Under Mr. Jagdeo, the PPP performed worse than the PNC under Mr. Burnham. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Mr. Jagdeo is not in the same league with Mr. Burnham.
The former PNC leader cared about poor people and cherished the resources of his country. I will not and cannot say the same for Mr. Jagdeo.
Our country has been wracked with drug trafficking, incredible levels of corruption, rape of state resources, morbid levels of racial discriminations, among others. I never voted for the PPP. I swear on the life of my only child, I never did.
Last year, I campaigned for the AFC and I helped out APNU in small ways. I wanted the AFC to win or alternatively APNU. I hope in my heart that the opposition control of Parliament will allow us Guyanese to dream again.
I come now to the jumbie. Some citizens in Lodge (south Georgetown) took to the streets and violently protested the senseless accidental death of a former athlete when a minibus moved away from a pot hole and drove into him. They threw objects on the roadways and set them on fire. When you travel east on the seawall highway and you turn south onto UG Access Road, on your right is empty land, and opposite is the home of the Beharry family. Next to the Beharry family is a gated community built by the Gafoor Group of Companies.
Outside that villa on the UG Access Road, there is a small trench with a bridge built over it and covered by the asphalted road. It developed a huge hole that cannot be patched right in the middle. Motorists swerve from it all the time coming right into the path of opposite drivers
Two years ago, a speeding minibus did just that and badly injured a businessman, his wife and his daughter’s face. She was a UG major in economics at the time. The man still cannot walk. I did a column on the accident. Other citizens were enraged.
I spoke to Robeson Benn’s Ministry to fix the bridge. It refused. The hole is still there. Lives are still threatened by it. And the people in that area re-elected Robeson Benn last month.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
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