A lot of these (probably) well-meaning folks with their proposals for “constitutional change” etc to get our politics on a more even keel are really barking up the wrong tree. And they’re probably whistling in the dark to get their courage up, because they definitely know that politics in Guyana is not your regular garden variety type. Here, things can get really – as it has gotten so many times before – rough! Beatings, riots, murders, home invasions, rapes – name the type of political violence you’ve heard about and we’ve suffered it here. Including a declaration of war against the state by “Freedom Fighters”, who created a state-within-a-state in Buxton, and launched attacks against the Police and surrounding communities of Indian Guyanese.
So, sure, “constitutional change” might’ve worked in some locales, but that was when the parties in those conflicts – especially their leaders – were committed to a peaceful, lawful and rules-based method of settling differences. When, as in Guyana, you have some leaders who’ll break the rules of the game when they don’t get power by rules they helped draft and enact, you’re in deep doody!
Take the last few elections. In 2011, elections were held with a voters’ list that included folks who’d migrated – since the law allows this – but was cleaned up through a “claims and objections” process. The incumbent PPP squeezed into the Presidency by the hair on their chinny- chin-chin only because of Burnham’s peculiar 1980 Constitution. The PNC and AFC secured a majority in the Parliament!! The 2015 elections were held under the same rules and with the same voters’ list, and this time the Opposition – now in a coalition – captured both the Presidency and the Parliament!! No complaints!!
But, lo and behold, when they lost in 2020, suddenly they’re insisting that this was due to the voters’ list now becoming “inflated” and allowing the dead and emigrated to vote!! So, we’re asked to believe that, when in office, the PPP didn’t cook the books, but could do so from the outside!! And it doesn’t end there. Using that cockeyed claim, the Opposition have refused to accept the legitimacy of the Government, and have referred to them as an “illegal, installed cabal”!!
And moving to the conclusion of that logic, some from that camp have now called for the Government to be removed by force. Now, against the background of our most recent history, the Government can’t take this as just an expression of free speech. And even in the freest of speech regimes, it is accepted you can’t yell “FIRE!!!!” In a crowded cinema!!
And calling for violence against the state is certainly doing that!!
…and Police responsibility
But, are the Police Force and other arms of the law to just sit on their hands?? They’re supposed to keep “law and order”, no? Our history compels them to react to legally prohibited provocations! So, they’ve just issued a wanted bulletin for one particularly insistent NY-based agent provocateur. Ironically, among the laws the Police used to frame their wanted bulletin was the Cyber-Crime Law the PNC/AFC coalition passed over the protests of the PPP!!
Seems the cyber warrior was on a Facebook show with one of his confederates in Guyana. In the context of his usual over-the-top ranting against the PPP Government for their alleged persecution of African Guyanese, he allegedly said, “…until somebody gets run off the road or something to compensate for the things that they are doing, they’re gonna keep doing it.”
Now, your Eyewitness ain’t no lawyer, but that sure looks like he “advocate(ed) the use of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within the country.”
…against COVID scammers?
Your Eyewitness is outraged at those two nurses who sold the COVID-19 vaccination “Blue Books”. Now, not only should they be fired, but so also should the 12 others who have been identified.
Their customers must also be booked. They risked others’ lives.
