Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 19, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
As each day goes by the APNU+AFC leaders are cementing deep in the psyche of countless numbers that they are not morally and politically superior to their predecessors – the PPP. I have always voiced my viewpoints without political preference.
My opinion is that the police investigation of Charrandass and now Jagdeo’s statement about “chasing them” does not appear to be devoid of a political dimension.
Yesterday as I was about to let my dog out from the car, the driver of the vehicle that was reversing is a personal friend of mine, Leslie Sobers. Leslie is the chairman of the broadcasting authority.
I reminded him that the authority needs to zoom in on violations by NCN and not only private stations. I gave Leslie examples of the wild rhetoric of Nagamootoo and Ramjattan against Charrandass on NCN, rhetoric that can incite violence.
Just a brief diversion; last Sunday, I was on the panel of the radio programme – Hot Seat Rewind – that included the editor-in-chief of NCN, Leron Brummel. I pointedly told Leron that NCN has the identical appearance as when the PPP controlled it.
I gave the examples of interview programmes during the no-confidence vote (NCV) controversy and not one independent guest or opposition figure was invited. And this trend continues.
The police interviewed Jagdeo over remarks he made in Berbice. He reportedly urged his followers to chase out APNU+AFC leaders when they come to Berbice. As someone who has spent his entire life in political activism, I see nothing threatening or inciting about that emotion. It is an outburst of demagoguery that has been used millions of times by ruling and opposition parties since competitive elections in 1957.
In the 23 years that the PPP has run this country (1992-2015), PNC and AFC leaders have echoed sentiments in tempestuous ways that mirror Jagdeo’s advocacy. During the inferno of “mo fyaah, slo fyaah” led by the opposition PNC, similar demagoguery took centre stage. Guyanese leaders are known throughout the world for their ignorance of the lessons of history and that goes even for Walter Rodney.
If you do not like Jagdeo, do not tamper with the foundations of laws just to get at him. If you want to get at Jagdeo, then use basic, raw political strategies as all politicians all over the world do. But at no time bend, corrugate, manipulate, massage the rule of law to undo your political opponent. It can come back to haunt you. How will this happen?
When your opponent gets into power he will do the same to you and they will cite your lack of integrity in pursing your political goals – in other words, you are in no position now to cry foul. How such a simple lesson of history can be ignored by humans is beyond comprehension. Let’s examine Jagdeo’s rhetoric and juxtapose it with others who occupy the seat of power.
Describing to his supporters that the NCV have made the government illegal, he told them therefore when its leaders come to Berbice, they must chase them out. There is one inherent danger in that exhortation. But semantics will take over if you cite that inherency and ask the police to intervene.
Jagdeo’s words can motivate people to confront Government leaders who go to Berbice. But that semantic outlay is present in countless outbursts of APNU and AFC leaders when they were in opposition and now in office.
When a government falls by a NCV and you tell the population the parliamentarian that brought it about took a bribe, unless you supply proof or lock him up, you are exposing him to danger.
Nagamootoo and Ramjattan have used the semantic outlay (the words don’t have to be identical) that Jagdeo utilized and the police, three months after, have not interviewed them.
Ministers have said unbalanced things about the opposition and media personalities that could have generated attacks on them. Here are a few examples; Ramjattan got on Chris Ram programme one year into the new government and accused me and David Hinds of wanting to bring back the PPP into power. Government supporters could have attacked us.
President Granger and Joe Harmon in a press release accused me of making mischief when I analyzed Raphael Trotman’s press release which stated that President Granger acting outside of the Cummsingsburg Accord made his son-in-law a minister. That could have incited people to hurt me.
What about the statement of Volda Lawrence that is now in the public domain? Guyana’s politics is becoming dangerous; but then again, it always was. Guyanese rulers do not want to learn from history.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
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