Dear Editor,
A friend made the following remark, “Isn’t it odd and strangely coincidental that morbid and ghastly things happen at certain juncture of PNC’s political life?”
This thought was put to me during a conversation with a fellow Guyanese in New York, and after careful examination of the events, I must admit that they all give the same cryptic revelation: Are we preying on the dead?
So, let us examine a few of these events.
We begin with the year 1992, when the PNC lost the election to the PPP/C. Immediately thereafter, there were riots and other horrendous acts which left buildings burnt to the ground, and there were lootings and killings. This went on for some months, before good sense prevailed and the PPP/C Government of the day could get on with nation building.
Election 1997, and again the PPP/C won by a landslide. This brought out the ire of the PNC, and they took to the streets, looting and burning. Georgetown became a towering inferno. For two long years, they kept up this savagery, driving fear and foreboding in the city. Persons dreaded coming into the city to conduct business for fear of being attacked, or even killed.
I pause here to mention the name Donna McKinnon, a central figure in the 1997-1999 riots. She was a pregnant woman from Buxton, who died in childbirth – whether it was in Buxton or wherever – but not at the place where her body was located. Her body was miraculously found in the vacant lot next to Freedom House. The PNC rumour mill immediately went to work, spreading the erroneous news that Mrs Jagan shot the victim dead. This was a boldfaced lie, but Hoyte used that opportunity to intensify the armed struggle in the streets of Georgetown. It is seemingly a national pastime of the PNC to prey on the dead.
There are a few things we must note in the McKinnon case. It must be noted that she did not die in the place where her body was found. In fact, the post-mortem examination revealed that she had died a long time before her body was found, and rigor mortice had already begun.
This is similar to the Henry Boys’ situation. Those boys were not murdered at the location where their bodies were found, nor can motive for their killing be attributed to race or politics, yet the PNC is injecting those very allegations to fuel the hate. This dance with death, this exploitation of the dead, is another appalling strategy used by the PNC to divide us. I am tempted to believe that that party’s motive is to divide us.
Let us fast forward to the 2015 Election and the brutal murder of Courtney Crum-Ewing, and I ask this question: Was this another strange coincidence? Was this another preying-on-the-dead situation? You are talking about a strong supporter of the PNC Party being gunned down three (3) days before the election. The Granger forces blamed it squarely on the PPP/C, and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Well, as was expected, the PNC won the election and took control of the reins of power, but instead of making the investigation of Crum-Ewing’s murder a priority, Granger went along his merry way as if that murder/death never occurred. It makes me wonder who were the real intellectual authors behind Crum-Ewing’s death. To so callously treat the death of a supporter of your cause speaks volumes of your Judas-type concern for his death, as if you ever had concern for him in the first place?
It tells me how brutal these PNC people can be just to get a grab at power.
So, back to the point: It is strangely coincidental that at certain critical junctures these morbid things tend to take centre stage. Very suspicious are the goings-on when these killings occur.
What is taking place right now is a repeat of bygone years, wherein the losers, PNC, refused to accept defeat, and are now using the morbid experiences of the dead to mount deadly protests.
Why use the dead to make a political statement? Why go out to campaign at the home of the dead? At the news of the death of these boys, Granger and Harmon descended on Number 3 Village, preaching hate. Harmon is quoted as saying, “We have to defend ourselves,” which is indicative of Hoyte’s armed approach in the 1997 riots; and, “We will remove this Government from office.” These are statements which all add up to violence and racial segregation.
Is this another case of The Rwandan Experience, wherein Tutsis and Hutus were pitted against each other: neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend, and race against race? Is this the Guyana we are building, or the place that we want our children to grow up in?
Instead of going gracefully into retirement, Mr Granger is exploiting these boys’ deaths to foment strife and discord. Is this really about the Henry boys, or is it just another PNC rabid obsession with power? I leave this matter in the hands of The Almighty!
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
