Home Letters Elections fever is heating up and drawing out some closet ideologues
Dear Editor,
Local Government Elections (LGEs) are less than three weeks away, and the likely final result presents a haunting mental torment for Opposition elements. The countdown pace is agitating some closet-ideologue hopefuls, whose futile displays of ranting and raving can only hasten their long-lost relevance or recognition.
A PPP/C landslide victory in the upcoming Local Government Elections is highly anticipated, based on the Party’s aggressive and thorough preparation. Of critical importance is the genuine demonstration by PPP/C leaders to be all-inclusive in embracing the entire nation, and this is sending the remaining few, feeble PNC racists mad, because they are finding it challenging to create divisions based on ethnicity.
There remain brainwashed remnants of the latter setup, a few soloists whose rationale remains clouded and vendetta-driven in the attempts to deflect attention from the PPPC’s progression.
Henry Jeffrey, a former ‘ideologue’ of the YSM/PNC, absolutely fits that profile, and reacts with the hope that he finds some new political footing. This well-known rabble-rouser is a proven opportunistic defector from his party of birth, the PNC, and his internal antagonisms have realized his sidelining by former PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte. He was given a second chance by Dr. Cheddi Jagan when he jumped ship, but later ran out from the Civic component of the PPP/C, and is now pretending to be a defender of “Afro-Guyanese” people.
In a recent message in the free press in Guyana, this “political grasshopper” tried to paint a negative picture of the PPP/C, alleging discrimination concerning contract-allocation and the effects of slavery. Jeffrey, conditionally, is trying to position himself as being so concerned and disturbed with the vast amount of people crossing the floor to be with the PPP/C slate.
The situation begs the question about what he did when he crossed the floor, joined the PPP, and spent three terms as a senior Minister in the PPP Government. Specifically, what did he do then for the Afro-Guyanese people? Let him tell this nation what he did for Afro-Guyanese as Minister of Housing and Labour, and senior Minister of Education.
As Jeffrey falsely tries to speak of allocation of contracts to Afro-Guyanese people, he must remember that he had had the responsibility of, benefitted from, and oversaw, contracts of his own.
Moreover, this Burnhamite ideologue benefitted from scholarships funded by taxpayers’ money, and was catapulted to the position of Principal of the Kuru Kuru Cooperative College when he returned to Guyana. In that position, Jeffrey did nothing significant to advance the capacity of Afro-Guyanese people to become bourgeoisie, or small entrepreneurs. Instead, he ensured the sustenance of a particular reputation from their services-oriented strengthening as public servants, teachers and nurses, and workers in the disciplined services.
As a Burnham ideologue, Jeffrey was at the helm of numerous elections’ rigging. Although Burnham used the disciplinary forces to rig massively in 1968, 1973, 1978, and 1980, Jeffrey did not choose then to give Afro-Guyanese contracts. Instead, the riggers put on the front page of the New Nation paper a caption which read, “The steel is Sharper now than ever.” Accompanying that caption were the photograph of five strong military men holding up military weapons and threatening anyone who dared to resist the rigging of elections.
Guyanese will never forget all the terrorist activities of the PNC. Those days are long gone, but the likes of Henry Jeffrey should not pretend that those activities never existed. Indeed, the nature of these self-aggrandising ideologues contributed more to the suppression of the Afro-Guyanese people, whom they still do not wish to see emerge from their selfish grip.
Jeffrey is reminded that when one throws a stone tied to the end of a string, the centrifugal forces can likely ensure a force is redirected towards the centre when not adequately controlled.
Today, the tremendous development that is taking place in Guyana is attracting our diversity in support of a unified democratic position.
The “One Guyana” motto of President Dr Irfaan Ali and the PPP General Secretary’s ability to mobilise his forces and unite this nation must be the reason for this nation rising and being connected. As our intellectuals, youths and people of all walks of life live better lives, Guyana’s democracy would be strengthened at all levels.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar