…or thumbs on the scale?
If anyone wanted to know how to subvert a constitution, they only have to look at the farce going on in GECOM, after the tragedy in the CCJ, which refused to do its duty and issue a specific order after its judgement on the NCM. Our Constitution has been treated worse than toilet paper…even though that’s thrown away, at least it’s done AFTER the mess is cleaned up. Right now, we’re still stuck with the mess the PNC caused in its desperate gambit to rig its way back into office.
In all of this, the PNC and its leader David Granger formed a tag team with GECOM to make a mockery of the Constitution. This was all carefully planned by Granger early in the day when he blatantly refused to follow the Constitution’s clear directive that the all-important Chair must be selected from a list provided by the Opposition Leader. He insisted he’d select James Patterson and only James Patterson, who was on none of the three lists Jagdeo submitted. And Patterson it was!
Now, Patterson wasn’t selected for any special knowledge of elections; in fact, he had absolutely none!! He was chosen because, like his predecessors Jackman and Bollers, he would ask, “How high”, when told to jump by the PNC!! The NCM by the PPP came out of the blue…and momentarily threw the PNC into a loop. You can still see how bitter they are with Charrandas voting his conscience by looking at the nasty names they still label him: “Treachery”, “Judas” and “snake” are some of the milder ones!!
But it’s par for the treacherous course we’re traversing to note that none of those words are being used to describe Patterson’s final act of perfidy when he ordered “H2H” registration even after the CCJ had ruled that his appointment was illegal. Never mind the mysterious “ex ante” Gazetted notice which suddenly appeared: THAT didn’t fool anyone! Something was foul in the state of Guyana.
When the new Chair was chosen after talks between Granger and Jagdeo, some hoped the Gordian knot had been cut. But not your Eyewitness!! Go back to the record in this space and you’ll see that the minute Claudette Singh said she’ll be meeting the Commissioner teams separately he smelled a rat! If she wanted to follow the Constitution and schedule elections ASAP, she knew she’d have to be the one to change the status quo. She wasn’t living on Mars, was she?!!
And from then, matters have continued going downhill, with every decision she’s made: to continue H2H for another 4 days; to merge the two lists, etc.
And now to print new IDs??
…while marginalising Indo-Caribbean Culture
A very poignant letter by a Trinidadian was carried in another section of the press about the performances in her island for Carifesta XIV. Noting that Indians are a plurality in Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname and the largest ethnic minority in the Caribbean, she noted there was only token representation of Indian Caribbean culture. But then, it’s been like that from the very first one here in Guyana in 1972, hasn’t it??
She noted that when the topic “Re-imagining Caribbean Futures” was discussed, “They spoke only of pan, moko jumbies, J’ouvert, blue devils, Dame Lorraine, Sailor Mas, etc. as well as dancehall, reggae, and soca. Not a word from any of them about Divali, Hosay, Ramleela, kassida, Pichakaree, Rath Yatra, chutney, churail, saaphin, tassa, etc.”
This becomes more poignant when you realise the day the letter was published – Sept 4, the last ship returning Indian immigrants to India, the MV Resurgent, set sail on Sept 4, 1955. The rest decided the Caribbean was home.
But are still made to feel like strangers.
…on local content
Once again, your Eyewitness raises his hands to the heavens and wails at the iniquity and folly of the PNC, who has allowing a modern “Rape of the Sabines”.
It dawdled to craft and enforce a local content policy.
