Dear Editor,
Many officials in our country are on record, at one time or the other, proclaiming their “love” for Guyana. Some even beat their chest so vigorously that they sound very convincing. This phenomenon is not just confined to the political sphere, in which the PNC and AFC’s top leaders are the most vocal in this breast-beating display of nationalism, but it could be found in many constitutional bodies – most important being the Judiciary and in the Elections Commission. Indeed, the Chairperson of GECOM is on record as stating that all the oil in Guyana cannot buy her integrity, lofty noises indeed. We also see this same kind of “nationalism” in some trade unionists and among many columnists in our media who express similar sentiments.
One would expect that such persons would be willing to sacrifice greatly to protect and promote this country. That means doing whatever they can to assist the economic and social advancement of Guyana. One would expect that those “nationalists” would try to promote the good name and reputation of our republic. Unfortunately, in examining their practice we see how far their words diverge from their actions/behaviour. This small group has done more to harm the welfare of our people and our country and has set us back by decades.
The cabal that took power in 2015, PNC and AFC leaders, did nothing to promote the all-round development of Guyana. Their first order of priority was to raid the treasury, by any means, to enrich themselves.
While they were in opposition, this same group did everything to sabotage many developmental projects including the Speciality Hospital, which now would have been a great asset in fighting the coronavirus, and the hydropower station, which would have allowed us to end blackouts and to industrialise our country. In Government, they continued the vindictiveness and abandoned these ventures completely. They destroyed jobs in sugar and forestry massively. The contracts they were involved in raised great suspicions locally and internationally as being tainted with corruption. However, the “nationalist” garments fell off after December 21, 2018, when the No-Confidence Motion was passed in the National Assembly.
The cabal began treating the Constitution as a piece of rag that could be so easily discarded. The oath taken to uphold the Constitution without fear or favour means nothing to these “nationalists”. That little cabal then began to pursue a course that has done untold damage to the integrity of this country and has tarnished the good name of our people greatly.
The first blow was the “dispute” they engineered about what the majority of sixty-five was. That was so laughable that no right-thinking person believed that it could stand any scrutiny. Yet we saw that our Court of Appeal upheld that nonsense. This decision undermined the confidence of ordinary people in such an important institution. It was really rather embarrassing to see the contempt with which the Caribbean Court of Justice overturned that decision. In spite of this, some people were not surprised at that ridiculous decision by the Court of Appeal. That is because any casual observer would note the steady undermining of the Judiciary since May 2015.
The Elections petition brought by the PPP/Civic contesting the results of the 2015 elections has not seen light. No explanation has ever been given to this day. Many other cases have been lying in the courts for years, one of which I am involved in that has been in the court since 2015. It is a constitutional case. It was completed but no decision was given to date. By contrast, Anil Nandlall and Irfaan Alli, who had trumped-up charges against them, have been dragged before the courts and appeals against decisions in their favour have been expedited. It is hard not to believe that the court is taking directions from the cabal; or that it is so closely entwined that the court anticipates what the cabal wants and often, most dutifully, delivers. Fairness and equality before the law as it relates to cases that can have political consequences or that the regime has an interest do not seem to exist anymore. All of these have had damaging impacts on our country’s reputation. How can anyone believe that Guyanese who have any love for our country would inflict such harm to its reputation? Clearly, they love themselves more than Guyana.
The same can be seen in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The DPP has been refusing to lay charges against the officers in the cabal who are violating our laws, including our procurement laws. That is not all; this same office moves with alacrity to throw out cases brought by the Opposition in their individual capacity whenever they try to stamp out corruption and those violating our Constitution. The functions of that office have become one of protecting the regime, to allow them a free hand to do as they please.
As if the above actions have not done enough damage to our country’s reputation; then came GECOM. In full view of the whole world, an attempt was made to steal the March 2, 2020 elections. Elections observers, both local and foreign, and Diplomats were all disgusted. Yet the CEO, unashamedly and who seems to have given up all pretence of any professional integrity and decency, has announced that he needs one hundred and fifty-six (156) days to count less than a million votes. This is after holding up the counting for almost 50 days. Compare that with South Korea, which is a country of over fifty million (50,000,000) people, which held their elections on April 15, 2020, and in less than 24 hours the counting was finished and the results made known to the world. The offices of GECOM, the Secretariat, the Commissioners appointed by the PNC/APNU have damaged GECOM’s reputation, they have almost destroyed it.
The other public institution that appears to have surrendered its professionalism to the corrupt cabal, which is now a virtual dictatorship, is the Guyana Police Force. This body has been transformed once again into a tool of the ruling elite. SOCU, which was set up as a body to fight money laundering, has become a political tool to harass those that are opposed to the lawlessness of the PNC/APNU/AFC cabal. It is a compromised and corrupt body. The leadership has allowed the Force to defend the political corruption of the PNC/APNU/AFC cabal; it cannot hope to combat the other forms of corruption in its ranks. It has to turn a blind eye to the daily shaking down of motorists on the road, mainly at the roadblocks erected since May 2015. If you drive along the coast you will see motorists being stopped for no reason and most have bribes extracted from them. The moral authority to halt this does not exist in the leadership of the police because it is politically compromised.
All those actions that are threatening democracy in Guyana, preventing us from living in a normal society and soiling the reputation of our people, find robust support from many of the columnists in our newspapers. One, David Hinds, has gone so far to suggest that the votes be destroyed and we should maintain the corrupt cabal in power. These people have revealed themselves as the worst anti-nationals and promoters of undemocratic governance. How can this be love of country?
Finally, all this is occurring while the de facto President, who campaigned on honesty and integrity, is doing nothing to put an end to this charade. Can any of those who perpetrate these damaging acts to our economy, our social sector, our politics and our image honestly claim to love Guyana? That clearly cannot be so!!
Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
Former President
