…and Government of the people
Everyone knows that “politics is dirty”. But “dirty” comes in all colours and it’s particularly irking when the colour green gets dragged in the dirt as it is being done by the Ministry of the Presidency right now. Green is, after all, the colour that’s now associated with a clean environment and all that it takes to make that real. So how could Prezzie drag the colour into Guyana’s gutter politics? A clue is the shade of green the Government chose – that of the slush found in the gutters.
Your Eyewitness, of course, is referring to Prezzie painting the Office of President – THE ENTIRE BUILDING!! Green!! Obviously, it has nothing to do with the environment and being clean, but everything to do with green being the colour of the PNC from its inception. Ever since this PNC-led Government squeezed into office, it has gone on a painting binge. During the Inauguration and the Independence celebrations, citizens were shocked to witness the extent to which green and yellow became the leitmotif of every event. Even the bouquets laid at the Independence Arch were green and yellow!
Since then, the “PNCing of Guyana” took on a whole new meaning as the yellow was dropped like a hot, ripe plantain from the programme! But to make the point even stronger where they were coming from with the PNC’s green, the Government started planting green palm trees in a “beautification” programme across the country. The message that Guyana was “PNC territory” was moved from the subliminal to the symbolic – while some might’ve missed that green was the PNC’s colour – everyone knows the palm tree is the PNC’s symbol. And the palm tree is planted in the ground!
But painting the Ministry of the Presidency Building green takes this PNCing to a whole new level – the very lowest possible level. Even though the President is elected by one section of the society, he’s supposed to be President of ALL Guyana. To now paint the building in which he is housed with the green of the PNC is to now signal that this President is now President of only that section that placed their Xs for him. This is a sad day for Guyana.
While Burnham had signalled his desire to co-opt the judiciary back in the day when he flew the PNC’s flag over the Court of Appeal, and rigged the elections to remain in office, he was never this blatant about his partisanship.
What the cloaking of the presidential building with the PNC’s green has done is to tell all those who don’t vote for the PNC – “Go to hell! – we don’t care!!!”
…and respect for the Opposition
When the PPP won the elections of 1992, their supporters called for justice to be done after the humiliations, expropriations and appropriations they and the country had suffered for 28 years. But Cheddi Jagan insisted there’d be “no recriminations; no revenge” against the PNC. So folks like Robert Corbin were never prosecuted and sent to jail over the “electricity barge” scandal.
And we come to this PNC-led Government that from the word go launched “forensic audits” threatening to prosecute and jail PPP figures if they found the slightest infraction. Up to now, they haven’t been able to find a single instance. So still seeing red, what do they do? On a wing and a prayer when it comes to the legalities, give 48-hour notice to evict the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre from Red House! Then send goons from the Ministry of the Presidency to physically throw them out!
And who says politics can’t get lower than a snake’s belly? Not when the PNC sees red!
…and cowardice
Cowards such as Ruel Johnson have a “yellow streak” on their backs. Rather than protest he wasn’t asked for his advice as “Cultural Advisor” by the PNC-led Government on the lease to Red House – he takes pot shots at the PPP!
