Open notes to ...
Bharrat, Blair and Eusi
Stabroek News
April 25, 2003
No offence, no real disrespect meant for the "full mouth" first name, Mr. President, just wanted to get in two important B's in the caption.
(Incidentally, one would believe that I had reported renewal of support for the main opposition, judging from the reaction to my piece last Friday - from those who bothered to contact me.
Recall that I had enquired about just "who's in charge?" and had recorded the fact that I was "tiring of Government's timidity". It was interesting, but not surprising to realise that significant numbers of Guyanese feel the same way. The Government needs to be more authoritative and assertive! Consult like hell - but be pre-emptive and proactive.)
Yes Mr. President, too many of your policy initiatives actually implemented are reinforcing the theory that perception is often reality.
The perception that your government only reacts to protests and demonstrations - many of them illegal and disruptive.
No matter how pleased your handlers might feel now that some semblance of order and civility has returned to Linden, for example, many right-thinking Guyanese, including some of your ardent, strategic supporters, regret and reject the gross disrespect for authority you had to grin and bear there, even though you knew that most of the blame for the Region Ten/Linden debacle was not attributable to the government. Do you really realise the precedent set there? Do you understand the implications of the PNC's declaration that they will continue to work with the Lindeners? The Lindeners who, if they are old enough and honest enough would know that the wreckage of the industry started under that same PNC who had resorted to importing foreign management for it?
I would expect that you care very much for your own image - and the significance and symbolic "paramountcy" of the Office of the President. I am afraid that too often these days the integrity of the Jagdeo Presidency - that office and its authority - is being publicly denuded. When for example, the Stabroek News of last Thursday, April 17, published a terse, but pointed page one comment captioned "A failure of leadership", two of your normally-enthusiastic backers told me that they would have no problem signing that rebuke.
Since, too, the Stabroek of this past Monday (Easter Day) beat me to it, let me quote its editorial which reflects my final views on the Linden matter, accurately, nearly perfectly: "It is perhaps a telling sign of the breakdown of respect for law and order in this country that even after President Jagdeo had visited Linden and given commitments for the restoration of the electricity and water supply that some inhabitants of the town defiantly continued blocking key thoroughfares, virtually holding sections of the community hostage.
It is not the way in which presidential authority should be asserted and the continued defiant behaviour of Lindeners, characterized by acts of vandalism such as the ditching of roads, is completely unacceptable. It is the Buxton recipe.
"...In other circumstances, the protesters would have been told what improvements were planned and advised firmly that if they did not end their disruptive blockades they would be forcibly removed by the law enforcement authorities. Even when the President revisited the area last Tuesday and pledged $50M to help with a dust nuisance road, the residents continued their barricading of the bridge. Out of a tight budget, the protesting Lindeners had been rewarded with $50M to repair a road when the primary cause for their agitation had been electricity and water. It was the kind of drift that is the hallmark of an administration susceptible to a particular type of pressure.
"Maybe the President had calculated that it was wiser to avoid a confrontation with residents thereby creating another flashpoint in a country beset by economic, political and crime crises. He may also have calculated that there was political capital to be made venturing into a PNCR stronghold and making a brief appearance with the party's leader while making concessions. Whatever the calculation, it did nothing for the image of law and order. It also demonstrated how easily a few hundred determined Linderers could paralyse traffic into and out of the town anytime they wanted and how helpless the police - already stretched thin - were in trying to resolve the crisis. It is something that could spell much trouble in the future."
As one who supported you in your quest for the Presidency, Mr. President, I am saddened by the diminution of authority and the respect for that authority, as exercised by you.
Mind you, I am acutely aware of two things: (1) I pose no threat and I will run for no political office and I might have no influence with those who support all you do regardless, but you never know and (2) I realise that since you assumed the Presidency in 2001, you probably have not enjoyed one trouble-free month. So effective has been the destabilisation techniques of you-know-who. All the more reason for you to elevate the Presidency, Mr Jagdeo.
Mr. Blair...
Being at home on Monday - Easter Day - I came upon a Mr. Blair, the Chairman of the Buxton-Foulis N.D.C - the one that should be administering the village of Buxton. The TV programme on which he appeared, of course, has its own agenda and slant, and is not good for my blood pressure, but I tarried as I could not believe this man and his utterances.
In a word, this Chairman, whose constituency includes a village, the glorious history of which is now forever tainted by more than a year of extreme criminality, claims not to be "aware" of any of the allegations being made against a section of his community.
Whether they are actual Buxtonians, "immigrants", resident or visiting criminals, Blair knows little of the activities of these bandits, although he criticises the methods being employed by "the government", the authorities, in tackling the crime problem in the village.
But it was amazing! Chairman Buxtonian Blair didn't seem aware of any kidnappings, any incidence of armed robbery, hijacking of vehicles, gunplay or arson which has taken place within his location. Wow! Perhaps it has become rather routine! Since I've long given up with your more ultimate Regional Chairman Alan Munroe, Mr. Blair, let me remind you of Edris Chester and Brian Hamilton, Sir.
Elder Eusi ...
Hello there friend Kwayana. Are you at home within these borders? Or within the boundaries of the wider Diaspora at this time?
Just to let you know that, at another (lower) level, I feel and share your pain at what your home community has become. Recall your assisting me decades ago to research the historical incident when allegedly, "Buxtonians" stopped a train with the British Governor, Sir Francis Hincks, on board? Now, the descendants of a political grouping you know so well have influenced the new status of your village.
Moving you to write: "After Bosnia, Rwanda, Zaire, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, we have in Guyana a movement born in the 21st century but worthy of the Dark Ages in Europe. They support the burial industry, which is in no need of a larger market.
"The masterminds gave weapons they have not taken back. They have trained killers they cannot control. They have swapped their brains for guns and guns are in control. They have made Buxton-Friendship a human wasteland."
But what do you think of the Kaieteur News letter-writer who essayed to repudiate your informed views on such a sensitive subject? The letter-writer like the Idi Amin-type tele-activist tended to glorify banditry - bandits and murderers become "freedom or resistance fighters" - and distort your role in educating the African-descended community. Ah well...
Peace, until....
1) Tom is back! My favourite Pan Africanist Ras Tom - with the Scottish Blood - has returned with records of DNA sequencing tracing African origins. Much more next week!
2) Next week too: The Stabroek and the police.
3) What informs the savagery that breaks the bones of a young kidnap victim? Drugs
4) How often will the new Linbridge community committee - the Bridge committee - hold the community, the government and the nation to ransom. (If you're soft, that's your new continuous Linden problem right there, Mr. President.)
5) What makes a President and two intelligent, high-profile Heads of Mission appear on certain television shows? The need for (any) exposure?
6) Notice the significant millions in profits by the local non-manufacturing cigarette company? In the absence of any Lord, alcohol and tobacco to the rescue? I wish you one peace-filled week, after the resurrection...
`Til next week!
