Guest Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
April 13, 2001

IN TRINIDAD and Tobago, it is impossible to avoid a sense of deepening alarm, and feelings of frustration and despair, as we watch Guyana being pushed over the brink into a maelstrom of violent political unrest.

It is no longer enough, from this distance, to utter the usual platitudes and call for "dialogue" as if the two sides were at each other's throats and somehow shared equal responsibility for the current escalation of the troubles.

The compelling picture presented by today's Guyana is that of a state and an economy under more than threat of violent assault by a party which lost the general election.

The opposition People's National Congress/Reform is simply using one issue after another to reject the election results that gave victory to the People's Progressive Party/Civic.

Today's protests are against the re-appointment by the PPP Government of Dr Roger Luncheon as Head of the Presidential Secretariat...

Apart from the fact that Dr Luncheon has filled those roles for eight years, making the PNC's sudden objections entirely suspect, President Jagdeo has offered to discuss with the opposition the formal creation of a post of head of the Public Service.

So far, the PNC response has been to encourage demonstrations in the street, inflaming the situation with the sole apparent aim of rendering Guyana ungovernable by the party which won the election.

International observers have certified the election as having been free and fair, if not entirely efficiently run. The highest court in the land refused to interfere with the outcome by delaying the Presidential swearing-in.

Even the PNC representative on the Elections Commission sanctioned the results - only to be treated as the enemy by his own party supporters, and brutalised by hooligans.

Present protest demonstrations organised by the PNC are having the effect of completely destabilising Georgetown in the first instance. Open conflicts have developed with the police who have been put under undue stress and themselves subjected to verbal and physical attacks by demonstrators.

As death and gunshot wounds result from clashes with PNC demonstrators, some forming human blockades at the main entrance to the President's office, the police have been criticised for over-reacting. But the unyielding pressure being applied by PNC-led elements calling ominously for "struggle" and "revolution" will inevitably precipitate responses of increasing severity from the security forces.

When the smoke cleared on Tuesday, a large area in the Georgetown shopping district had been destroyed, and looting and large-scale banditry took place as the security forces were distracted.

Eyewitnesses in the city reported sightings of arsonists who have clearly also been involved against business places in other areas. Georgetown remains a city under siege, with predictable consequences for business and production.

Meanwhile, spill-over effects are reaching anarchic proportions in districts outside the capital with flaming roadblocks and daytime highway robbers disrupting public transport.

In many respects, history appears to be on the way to repeating itself in Guyana. Severe rioting in Guyana between 1961 and 1964 caused the death of scores of Guyanese on both sides of the racial divide and led to serious economic troubles.

The profoundly dismaying realisation is that the political and economic progress painfully achieved over the last decade and a half is in the process of being rolled back.

It was only after Forbes Burnham's death that Guyana was able to enjoy an election that could have been considered free and fair. The new political environment allowed Cheddi Jagan at last to win the Presidential office he had been denied for so long.

After Dr Jagan's death, he was succeeded by his wife, Janet, who retired on health grounds before completing the term and was succeeded by Bharrat Jagdeo who has proceeded to lead his party to victory.

Guyana is now going through the all too familiar routine of violent demonstrations that emphasise a racial divide that cannot be bridged.

Georgetown is PNC territory and the Guyana capital is under siege by the population of African descent unhappy with a government backed mainly by citizens of Indian descent.

President Jagdeo, although only in his thirties, is no doubt aware of the troubles of the past and would wish to avoid a repetition. This consideration may be the reason why he has been making conciliatory noises.

The real tragedy is he should not have to do so. He has won the election fairly and squarely and should be allowed to go ahead peacefully to govern.

It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the Opposition protests have as their sole aim the overturning of the decision produced by the election.

For the political and economic ruin that stares Guyana in the face at this juncture, people and Governments in CARICOM must find the clear-sighted candour to place the burden of the blame where it properly belongs.

(From yesterday's Trinidad Guardian.)