…for the Disciplined Forces
Well, your Eyewitness wasn’t surprised at how smoothly the voting by the Disciplined Forces went – after all they’re the DISCPLINED Forces, aren’t they?? If THEY couldn’t get their act together for a simple act of dropping a piece of paper into a box, then what are we spending all those billions of dollars every year for?? But what he was surprised about was that so many of them showed up to vote – 82%!! That figure’s certainly gonna better the civilian population’s showing come March 2!!
Maybe it was because they were voting so close to Republic Day and their patriotic fervour was aroused? Or was it because word of Annette Ferguson’s promise to dole out houses and house lots if they voted for the PNC was transmitted far and wide via their communications channels?? You’d think with all these Observers around, the PNC would be a tad more circumspect with their illegal campaigning at voting sites, wouldn’t you?? But this is the PNC in action! Granger set the tone for them when he donned his PNC Green Shirt to “view” the voting at Camp Ayanganna, coyly claiming he wasn’t campaigning but just “had a lot of green shirts”!! Of course, this wasn’t illegal – but it signalled to the rest of his campaigners that these were desperate times for them and it demanded desperate measures!!
The Disciplined Forces had always tended to give their votes to the PNC…so Granger’s gambit and Ferguson’s finagling betrayed their concerns that after the PPP’s stellar support for them and their annual bonuses, with the appointment of Brigadier Mark Phillips that equation might’ve drastically shifted!! While it might seem to be a small gesture, that picture of a GDF rank according Phillips a ramrod-straight crisp salute when he showed up shows that he’s a living presence for the soldiers while Granger is an antediluvian figure from the history books!!
Your Eyewitness was looking forward to the Fireworks Display that was promised by the GDF and is saddened at the explosion that cancelled the event but moreso that those ranks suffered one fatality and seven injured. This unit is highly trained – as befits fighting men who’re always ready to defend our country through constant honing of their offensive and defensive military skills – and have demonstrated their Pyrotechnic Skills for years to the delight of their audiences.
But seriously folks, on this 50th Anniversary of our Republican status, it is hoped that our Disciplined Forces will not succumb to the blandishments of the PNC, which are based on what former PNC leader Desmond Hoyte called “kith and kin ties”. Even though David Granger described their shooting of civilians guarding ballot boxes in 1973 as “admirable”, they have since proven their professionalism.
We should salute them for their fortitude!!
…when freedom was won
Of great regret to your Eyewitness has been the role the PNC played since 1970 – when the Republic was declared – to destroy the feeling of pride in Republicanism in our people. After complaining of British Colonial exploitation for hundreds of years, surely you couldn’t blame the citizenry for expecting their lots would be improved after removing the British yoke??
But as we know, there wasn’t a sphere of national activity the PNC left unsullied by Burnham’s “Midas Touch” – as Walter Rodney sarcastically described it. Politically, we became a despised dictatorship; economically, we became a basket case looking for hand-outs; socially, our divisions deepened and became chasms; culturally, we became exemplars of the “picaresque” people described by VS Naipaul – low class and roguish, living by our wits.
It’s no wonder by the time they were ousted in 1992, many wondered whether we wouldn’t have been better off under the British!!
Their ouster demands repetition come March 2!!
…on wining and grinding
You, Dear Reader, would know by now your Eyewitness isn’t enamoured of the evolution of our commemoration of our Republic Day. While countries parade their achievement literally with their Disciplined Forces, we “wind and grind”.
Go figure!!
