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There is more than one absolute king in Guyana

May 18, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Mr. Carl Greenidge, in an interview with this newspaper with reference to how power is administered, when asked about NICIL, said; “It is not an absolute monarchy here (Guyana) in which the King wakes up one morning and decides that I am going to give all this money to somebody and nobody must ask me anything.”
Mr. Greenidge’s memory is slipping. He must know that since 1999, monarchial features crept in, and the leading Leviathan had a few kings that worked alongside him
The King got up one morning and decided that he is going to run a lie detector test on the head of CANU and eight other CANU officers. The King said they failed the test and were peremptorily fired. In colonial times it was called dismissal at the pleasure of the King. The King woke up one morning and decided that his friend must get tax concessions that were not backed by law and slapped down Guyanese icon, Yesu Persaud, when he publicly objected.
The King, while in New York, heard there was industrial action by the air-traffic controllers. When he touched down in Guyana, he addressed them, telling them that if they had struck, on his return he would have fired them. It was called in colonial times, dismissal at the King’s pleasure. Of course monkey knows which limb to jump on. The King knows who to mess with.
One day, Mark Benschop and I drove into Pradoville 2 (will tell you below about another king that woke up one morning and gave land away in Pradoville 2) to see the majestic constructions going up on kingly land once owned by the people of Guyana. The King’s security told us to stop and park for the King to pass. We refused and the King’s limousine passed my car and Benschop’s vehicle in very close proximity. The King watched at us, particularly Benschop, and said not a word. His security detail was quieter than lambs. Indeed monkey knows on which limb to perform his acrobatic acts.
There is the sleepy king who woke up one morning and decided to share out State lands. Testimony in the libel case said that he called his friend in Linden and offered him a house lot in Pradoville 2. The satirical column in KN, “Dem Boys Seh” refers to another king as “Bruk Up Benn.” “Bruk Up Benn” instantly fired the head and deputy head of a public corporation. In colonial times, it was called dismissal at the King’s pleasure.
There is the king who exclaimed loudly to the nation, “Ah wan be president; why not; goat ain’t bite meh.” Of course there is a young king who just completed his mansion, swimming pool and attractive pool-house with the throne’s money. There is the king who marched into cricket land and took it over while he refuses to pay those poor souls for their work in Carifesta.
The people at the Theatre Guild are begging him for the $1.4 million he owes them for their Carifesta theatrics. They told me they need the money to pay their light bills from GPL
There is the intoxicated king who went around beating people. Then in an explosive incident, the result was the death of his wife which was officially ruled as suicide. Now who is the other king in power that is similar to the king in that famous story that was fooled and told he was wearing fantastically new clothes when in fact he was inpuris naturalibis (Latin meaning, stark naked)?
Yes, Mr. Greenidge, there are more than one monarch in power in Guyana that get up in the mornings and decide to do what they want.
Long after colonialism died in Guyana, we have kings and queens who dismiss State employees at the pleasure of the monarch. But Mr. Greenidge ought to know that these emperors did not bring back the throne through some coup or revolution gone wrong.
Guyana’s kings and queens were made into absolute emperors because the Guyanese people, opposition parties and civil society, like a fearful population in Hitlerite Germany, stood by and allowed the throne to return in 1999, after Independence came in 1966. Now it may be too late to stop the monarchs in their absolute niches. But we must try to.

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