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Oct 06, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Why President Ramotar says the things he says that lowers him in the eyes of Guyana and the world is not an easy analysis to undertake. First, people will laugh. Secondly, people will level accusations of hypocrisy. Thirdly, people will demand that the President put his money where his mouth is.
Here are the words that came out of the mouth of President Ramotar as printed in this newspaper in its October 3 edition (last Thursday). “All of us want to see our country develop and want to see Guyana be a better place. We might have different ideas of how that should be done but for Christ (sic) sake, don’t let the different ideas paralyze us, let’s try them one at a time; life will tell us if we are right.”
What do you make of this cry by President Ramotar? No matter how nice, generous and civil you want to be to the President of Guyana, you cannot help but show some disrespect to His Excellency. Respect comes from self-respect. First, a harsh critic could easily say that Mr. Ramotar spoke unadulterated nonsense. And even that description may not be harsh enough.
A less frank interpretation would be that Mr. Ramotar displayed crass hypocrisy. A more diplomatic angle would be that the President was hunting politically. A cynic would say Mr. Ramotar appeared downright silly.
All these assessments each have some element of validity. Mr. Ramotar’s exhortation was essentially crude propaganda and he should stop it when he addresses important national occasions. The rebuttal to Mr. Ramotar would take volumes, but here are snippets of the denial of reality that has taken over the collective mind of the PPP.
I did a column earlier this year in which I opined that every conceivable depravity the PPP commits against this nation, it semantically and epistemologically turns the negativity around, denies its existence, and proclaims that it, the PPP embodies the true values of ontology.
I point readers to the plethora of speeches in parliament where every speaker from the PPP benches have accused the opposition AFC and APNU of mocking, denying and violating the sacred values of life.
I made the point that if a visitor from another planet came down to Guyana, the visitor would think that the bad guys were the opposition. The reality is that every sacred value that the PPP parliamentarians accuse the opposition of violating, the PPP itself is doing so every minute of every day.
Let us return to President Ramotar begging the nation, and by extension the opposition, to let us work together to save Guyana. It needs quoting again the emotional part of Mr. Ramotar’s exclamation. He said: “For Christ (sic) sake, don’t let the different ideas paralyze us.”
Can you believe these words that came out of the mouth of all people, the President of Guyana? It is the President, this new President, who has continued in the vein of tribal politics that killed off Guyana sixty years ago. It is coming to two years now since the country said to itself, “We have a new president, there will be new approaches.”
Mr. Ramotar belongs to the era when the tribal confrontation started sixty years ago. Under Mr. Ramotar and his Cabinet, nothing has changed since Mr. Jagdeo demitted office. Many say Mr. Jagdeo is the de facto President while the de jure President, Donald Ramotar, is the underling of the de facto king.
Where and when has Mr. Ramotar tried a new idea? When and where did Mr. Ramotar accept an idea from any quarter of this society except the PPP and its incestuous company? Let’s quote Ramotar again, because in quoting him, Mr. Ramotar is laid bare. In quoting him over and over, we see the Emperor and his new clothes. Here is the Emperor once more; “We may have different ideas… let’s try them one at a time.”
When since December 2011, has Mr. Ramotar tried anything that is creative, innovative and novel? This very man refuses to try any idea from the opposition, in that he is refusing to sign any Bill that comes from the opposition, including four Local Government Bills his own party voted for. We leave you with a sad piece of politics about Mr. Ramotar.
The US Ambassador told the Stabroek News that he understands that the four Local Government Bills will be signed. Mr. Ramotar will get no credit for it. The Opposition and Guyanese people will say he had to be dragged to the table to sign. If Mr. Ramotar was a man of creative thinking, he would have signed in the first place and taken the huge credit that was natural.
Try a new idea quickly, Mr. Ramotar! Guyana needs it badly.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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