Guyana has been reduced to the silliest place on earth

Dear Editor,
When I wrote in an earlier letter about an impending arrest of the Opposition Leader, I was absolutely right, because that is what nearly took place on Wednesday. We were in receipt of information from reliable sources that the Police were given instructions to arrest Dr Jagdeo for offensive remarks he made at Babu Jaan.
Maybe that would have been the case if the information was not leaked out earlier, and the public and the international community were not alerted. But seeing that the public out there was well informed, it seems that the arrest plans suddenly changed to a mere “visit” by the lawmen.
Now, that chance drop-in was not just a drop-in as we know it, because those lawmen came with a few questions for the former president. The questions stem from two alleged statements he made: “Chase them out” and “Jackass”. The last utterance, Jackass, is a fabrication, because a recording of his address shows that he used the word “Judas” and not “Jackass”.
But whether he used the word “Judas”, as the traitor Iscariot from the Bible, or “Jackass”, as the animal Jesus rode into Jerusalem that Easter Week, the point remains the same: the Opposition Leader is within his constitutional rights to free speech.
And speaking of free speech, isn’t it strange that all of this is happening around the time when The Easter Story is told? So, if we are to take a cue from the PNC and its coalition, we can rewrite some parts of the Bible to read, “Moses betrayed his brethren for a 50 per cent increase in salary and David is vainly trying to enslave the Guyanese public with one big stone in a one (1) seat rigged election”.
I hope the Guyana Police from the “Criminal Investigations Department” do not read this, because there might very well be an arrest warrant out for me. I have made light banter of this an asinine — oops, I used the wrong word — rather ludicrous performance by the CID. At a time when persons are being beaten, robbed and murdered, this is the time the lawmen are idly seeking after seemingly harmless statements made by the Opposition Leader. Isn’t this the height of stupidity? The last murder — of the money-changer — took place a mere stone’s throw from a Police sub-station.
Isn’t this the silliest of things we could ever witness? Shouldn’t the Police be directing their energies and resources into important matters, like crime-fighting? But this is what Guyana has been reduced to, the most foolish of republics ever.
And it all stems from a Government that is equally foolish and is clutching at straws, or anything for that matter, that can make it look good.
So I would like us to again revisit this latest act of desperation. If you are to judge Dr Jagdeo’s statements as disrespectful, divisive, demeaning and volatile, then we should listen to a couple of statements made by the Government’s side also, to see if those warrant a visit by the CID.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo called the Honourable Dr Jagdeo a “Coolie Bully”, to rapturous applause by the coalition members in Parliament. Isn’t that a slanderous, humiliating and racial rant?
Then if it is not considered thus, what is? Certainly that was not meant to be a spontaneous piece of banter.
We turn to Security Minister Ramjattan, who told a reporter, “Haul you rass”. He, too, was never sanctioned for that vile remark.
Yet another minister made a boom out video. Minister Simona Broomes made a “Boom out Jagdeo video” in the hallowed chambers of Parliament. She was never reprimanded, nor did she ever get a visit from the CID.
Now, mark you well those Boom out lyrics rhyme with Buju’s Boom bai bai —-”, and you are asked to fill in the blanks here. Because, earlier in Parliament, this very same brawler of a minister repeated the phrase that “only men are found on this side of the house,” end of quote. So when she made that “boom out” video, it must be taken into context. So why wasn’t she “questioned” for that statement? Interesting!
Then there is the call for “war” if the PNC do not have their way on an illegal house-to-house registration. This war cry was made in the presence of ministers who cheered those vile singers on. Shouldn’t they be investigated also?
Even before that, the PNC were guilty many times over of hostile and divisive songs and statements. Using the community of Buxton as pawns during the crime years, a highly controversial song with equally violent lyrics was penned, “Bad man a bad man, bad man a Buxen Man….Bad Man a shoot man.” Are we to interpret that song to be a call to violence, or, as the PNC would have it, a chant by PNC church boys on their way to high mass? This song was penned at a time when scores of people were dying, including members of the very same Police Force who are now commanded to investigate the former president.
So, is this Government telling us that words and statements have harmless meanings when they use them, and a totally different connotation when they come from the Opposition? Is that what they are telling us? I hope not, because that would be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in a long time.
But come to think of it, that is exactly what this Government is preaching: there are one set of rules for the Government, and another for the Opposition.
Come on, Mister President, your administration is full of sh…..t. Oops, sorry, I accidentally used that word. I hastily retract that statement. For a slow learner like myself, I’d rather go for the use of the simpler language: Sir, your administration is full of that “miasmic fluid.”

Respectfully,
Neil Adams