Actions taken by a government with no consideration of their context is akin to playing Russian Roulette with national body politic. In Guyana, for the APNU/AFC government to schedule Cabinet meetings at Camp Ayanganna, the headquarters the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is to ignore the very checkered history of that institution in the struggle to establish democratic governance in Guyana. The refusal of the government to reconsider its decision in the face of widespread expressions of disquiet in the society only emphases suspicions raised during the elections campaign of a de facto “military government” being created.
The Ministry of the Presidency (MotP) announced last week that due to repairs to the building in which it is housed and where Cabinet meetings are held every Tuesday, they had to find an alternative venue. “The main requirements for a temporary alternative venue,” the statement adumbrated, “relate to privacy and confidentiality, security, document preparation and reproduction, size, cost, accessibility, parking and minimal disruption to traffic and regular business.” Claiming to have reviewed a “number of options” the MotP concluded that only Camp Ayanganna was suitable.
Opposition Leader and former President Bharat Jagdeo immediately rejected the rationale and pointed out that during his twelve years at the helm of Guyana, meetings were held not only out of the Presidential Complex, but actually out of Georgetown in Berbice, Essequibo Coast and the Rupununi. He, not surprisingly, repeated his party’s earlier expressed fears of a government. “ominously being dominated by a military mindset.”
Representing a view from of those who would not be considered to be in the opposition camp, president of the Trade’s Union Council, Lincoln wrote in a letter to the press: “First, this could be considered a non-issue, but in our politics where the PPP/C campaigned and sensitised the society that a Granger administration would result in militarisation of government the administration should have avoided fuelling the perception and giving their opponent political ammunition. Secondly, previous PNC and PPP/C governments held Cabinet meetings in various locations, which this government could have reviewed and then learnt from those experiences.”
In terms of its role in the suppression of democracy the US Country Report on Guyana had the following to say about the GDF: “Beginning in 1973, the PNC regularly used the GDF to help it win every national elections…Once they were collected, large numbers of ballot boxes were quarantined at Camp Ayanganna for more than twenty-four hours with no reason given. The PNC apparently had expected to receive a large number of votes in its traditional Georgetown strongholds and initially had allowed a fair count in districts there. When early results showed a low voter turnout, the PNC called on the GDF to intervene.
At the PNC’s first biennial congress in 1974, the GDF was required to pledge its allegiance to the PNC. During the 1970s and 1980s, GDF soldiers routinely received political indoctrination. The GDF also scheduled marches to celebrate major PNC political events, such as party congresses.
The PNC’s increasing politicization and subordination of the GDF disturbed many members of the officer corps. When some expressed a desire for military neutrality, PNC informants in the armed forces alerted Burnham to the dissension within the GDF. In August 1979, Colonel Ulric Pilgrim, the operational force commander, and Colonel Carl Morgan, a battalion commander, were dismissed. Pilgrim and Morgan had been two of the most popular officers in the GDF. Burnham appointed a PNC loyalist, Colonel David Granger, commander of the GDF.”
While the APNU/AFC government might expect criticism of its latest intemperate action to blow over, this one raises foundational fears on democratic governance. They have effectively destroyed any hope of a unity government that many hold out as the only hope for Guyana. Surely, WPA and the AFC Cabinet members protested this move from “inside” and their rebuff would have sent a chilling message to the PPP.
