…in the National Assembly
Today Guyanese can hold their heads high that, at long last, they’ve ceased being “mimic men” who literally ape the practices of our departed colonial masters – without harking to the substance of those practices. On Friday night, at the end of the long PPP-sponsored no-confidence debate, AFC MP Charandass Persaud decided to be a real representative of his constituency and voted his conscience to support the motion. The Government then fell!!
Yesterday’s Chronic, in a screaming, red banner headline, described Charandass as “Judas at Christmas”! And this exemplifies the PNC approach to democracy. Over in Britain, members of May’s own Conservative Party called for a no-confidence motion against her – and 100 of her MPs voted for it and against her. But neither she nor any other commentator called them “traitors”, much less “Judas”. But this is the PNC – of which Moses Nagamootoo, responsible for the Chronic, is now a card-carrying member – and they expect unswerving adherence to their line.
Charandass’s vote shocked even the Clerk of the House, to such an extent that he lost his equilibrium and had to be advised by the Speaker to carry on with his duties. Normally, of course, it’s the job of the Clerk to advise the Speaker!! But the shock of the Clerk was nothing compared to the consternation of the other Government MPs!! Cries of “No! No! No!” filled the chamber from one PNC female member some distance away, who must’ve seen her privileges flapping away!
The ones on either side of the AFC MP elbowed him and one asked frantically, “What the f*** yuh doin’ man”!! Charandass had to repeat his “yes” vote FOUR times before the Clerk accepted his choice. Volda Lawrence, David Patterson and Trotman, in front of him, swiveled around and glared daggers, until Trotman whispered into Lawrence’s ear. She jumped up and asked the Speaker for a “two-minute timeout”! The Speaker asked her if she thought this was a game, and informed her the vote must proceed. The Speaker should be given credit for sticking to his non-partisan job this time.
After the vote, Charandass was grilled by reporters, and explained his vote of conscience. Time and again he’d asked his party leaders why they went along with PNC policies that were against their constituency’s interests – like the firing of 5700 sugar workers and Hamilton Green’s gratuitous $1.3 million monthly pension. The final straw, it appeared, was when he advised party leader Trotman to censure Volda Lawrence’s “PNC only” employment policy – but he went on to excuse her!!
He had to ask for protection when he left for home. He said Lawrence promised to “kill” anyone who voted for the motion.
…and hate
Your Eyewitness isn’t big on social media, but he was so inundated with screenshots from various platforms on the no-confidence motion that he was forced to find out what was going on his own. And what he discovered is this country is even more divided than ever, with the presumably younger Government supporters resorting to the crudest scatological expressions about Charandass – whom they uniformly assumed only voted as he did because of “race”, and that he “sold out”.
It was widely assumed that “more like him will crawl out of the woodwork”! The hateful expressions were so consistent that they had to have been lurking under the surface at best – or expressed in “safe” environments regularly. The PPP was castigated as forcefully, and Jagdeo took the brunt of the attacks. It does not seem to cross the minds of these PNC youths that Jagdeo is the Leader of the Opposition, which agglomerated just 5000 votes less that the PNC/APNU and AFC put together.
And to attack him so nastily will further alienate his supporters.
…respect
What came out clearly in Charandass’s rationale for voting the way he did was the PNC treating the AFC like a doormat – and the leadership of Trotman, Nagamootoo and Ramjattan willingly lying down for the experience.
He at least has salvaged some respect!
