…in Guyanese politics
Back in the day, the recording label ‘His Master’s Voice’ reigned supreme in the music business. Abbreviated “HMV”, the logo of a dog listening to “his master’s voice” from an old gramophone would’ve been known to our erstwhile Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo.
Your Eyewitness says “erstwhile” because he just read a missive from Tacuma Ogunseye (which was more like a missile!) that took great umbrage at Nagamootoo for daring to suggest the Cummingsburg Accord needs to be renegotiated.
And this was AFTER Nagamootoo had faithfully echoed — in faithful imitation of the HMV’s Terrier — President Granger’s insistence that the PNC-led coalition had performed WONDERS (125 to be exact!) since coming into office. By daring to question the execution of the Cummingsburg Accord, Nagamootoo was implicitly undermining Granger’s claim. The Accord, after all, was part and parcel of the Coalition Manifesto!
Ogunseye reiterated a point which has been raised since the votes were (painstakingly!) counted in 2015: The AFC just didn’t bring in the number of votes it had promised, and therefore didn’t deserve the 40% of the Cabinet it had received!!
And how did Ogunseye figure out this very interesting factoid?? Well, he must’ve looked at just the votes from Berbice, where Nagamootoo and Ramjattan were supposed to haul in scads of Indo votes from the PPP.
But even if the AFC fell down there –we’re talking about the votes the ENTIRE AFC brought in, no? — what about all the Afro votes that stalwarts like Trotman, Patterson, the Hugheses, Gaskin etc brought in from Georgetown and elsewhere?? The AFC isn’t being stereotyped by Ogunseye as an INDIAN party (Gasp!!), is it? That would be the final insult to a man who, before the elections, had insisted he wasn’t even Indian!!
They say folks ought to be careful about what they ask for; they might actually get it!! This might apply to Nagamootoo and his prayer that the Cummingsburg Accord be renegotiated. If Ogunseye’s arguments are to mean anything — and the fella DOES work out of the Ministry of the Presidency, OK? — then it doesn’t appear that APNU thinks the AFC matters anymore. And it’s not just because of the AFC’s anaemic performance at the Local Government elections.
Proof positive was provided by General Secretary of the PNC, Oscar Clarke, who recently insisted that Prezzie’s simply continuing to channel HIS Master’s voice — Forbes Burnham’s. Now, if Nagamootoo’s past protestations on Burnham are to be given any credence, surely he’d choke if he had to now channel (albeit second hand!) Burnham’s ideology for the development of Guyana!!
But, then again, if Nagamootoo didn’t choke on the larwah he was given after the elections, maybe he can swallow even this big stick!!
…and those parking meters
Those well-meaning folks from the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) just don’t get it, do they? They’re insisting that the contract negotiated by the Gang of Four at City Hall with Smart City is “illegal”, and ipso facto they can cancel it!! Of course the contract’s illegal! But that’s not the point, is it? Don’t they remember when the AG’s Chambers scrutinised it? Even someone as dense as Basil Williams didn’t give his green light. The Ministry of Finance was even more scathing, but the contract still went through, and the Minister of Communities signed along the dotted lines on the by-laws that operationalised the contract.
The big question MAPM should ask is: “WHY?” And the answer is the folks that really matter, with whom the contract was signed — HMV’s to be exact — really don’t give a hoot about legalities. They also don’t give a hoot about being repaid what they forked out to grease the wheels.
They just want their pound of flesh. Literally!! MAPM’s being played.
…on Venezuela
Even if Caricom doesn’t want to join with the Heads of State of Central and South America to “condemn the escalating repression by the dictatorial government of Nicolás Maduro,” why didn’t Prezzie?
