They say “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”!! That nugget of folk wisdom, of course, means that if you fall for the same trick twice, you deserve what you get!! But it seems that suckers are really born every minute, and even the second distilled wisdom of “once bitten; twice shy” doesn’t seemed to have alerted some grifters in the Opposition that the snake oil of coalition politics – even under the fig leaf of “shared governance” – has been killed by them. It ain’t gonna happen in Guyana; at least not if the PNC’s involved!!
We all know what Burnham did to D’Aguiar, back in the 1960s, don’t we?? Used him to oust the PPP, and then dumped him as he rigged his way going forward!! Fast forward to 2015, when the PNC under the Sanctimonious Gangster started courting the AFC. A skittish Ramjattan worried they’d become “dead meat” if they went ahead, but yet he took the plunge!! Why?? Well, as a lawyer, he seemed to have believed that the law of contracts extended to political agreements, and agreed to the Cummingsburg Accord!!
Its essence was that AFC’s Nagamootoo would become the PM in what would be a “shared Executive structure”, with David Granger as President if they won the elections. The “sharing” was key, since they boasted this was the solution to our ethnically divided politics, by including ALL ethnic groups in Government. The AFC was going to bring in 11% Indians into the coalition with the overwhelmingly African-based PNC/APNU.
The Accord therefore specifically spelled out – leaving no ambiguity – that the key “power sharing” device was a Prime Minister on steroids!! “The Prime Minister SHALL have responsibility for: Domestic Affairs and Chairing the Cabinet; Recommending Ministerial Appointments and providing the organisational structures of Ministries for the approval of the President; Appointing heads of Agencies and non-constitutional commissions; domestic security.”
So, WHICH OF THESE POWERS WERE ACTUALLY GIVEN TO PM NAGAMOOTOO?? Responsibility for Domestic Affairs?? Nada!! Strike one!! Did he ever chair Cabinet?? Well, your Eyewitness understands he had a “chair” to sit – but that was it!! Strike 2!! Did he recommend “Ministerial Appointments”?? Well, even the three Ministers everyone thought he recommended on behalf of the AFC – Dominick Gaskin, Raphael Trotman and Holder – were actually unilaterally appointed by Granger!! Strike 3!! Did PM Nagamootoo recommend any heads of Agencies; say, like Clive Thomas for SARA? Your Eyewitness thought not!! Strike 4!! But hold it, he was already out with strike 3!!
So, right now, the Opposition PNC’s calls for “shared governance” with the PPP is “dead meat”, in addition to being dead in the water!! And will be until the PNC can engender some trust!!
…is Guaido??
How quickly we forget!! You didn’t immediately know your Eyewitness was talking about the man whom over sixty countries had recognised as President of Venezuela just two years ago??!! That’s right!! It was announced that Maduro had rigged the last elections, and Guiado, as Opposition Leader, had actually won!! Well, just last month, he was voted out by his Opposition comrades – but it doesn’t seem he’s taken too kindly to it.
Last week, Colombia had a conference of LA Leaders to try to get Maduro’s Government to resume peace talks with the Opposition, in Mexico. Guaido, of course, wasn’t invited!! But he had the temerity to sneak across the border to crash the conference!! He was quickly nabbed and whisked to Miami!! But while we may chortle at Guaido’s fall, let’s not forget it really doesn’t matter WHO’s the Venezuelan President – they ALL want to grab our Essequibo.
So, right now – with the US playing footsies with Maduro for their 300 BILLION boe – let’s hope they never settle their squabble!!
…rigged the elections??
The Rodney COI declared unambiguously that while Smith might’ve killed Rodney, Burnham was the intellectual author. So, now that the Elections Rigging COI identified the three GECOM Musketeers who did the dirty, what about the intellectual authors??
