When old, destructive minds agree
Freddie Kissoon column
Kaieteur News
May 13, 2007
There are so many pressing legislations that this government is dilatory about, that the urgency with which it has drafted a bill to remove parliamentarians that have defected from their respective parties, calls into question the motive behind the thinking.
The PNC leader has gone public with his intention to support this intended law. This is a law that is designed to perpetuate an authoritarian political culture in Guyana . Therefore, it comes as no surprise that someone like Robert Corbin, whose origins go back to that culture, has endorsed this iniquitous direction in political behaviour.
Two intertwined questions arise. One is why with so many gaps in legislation to be filled the PPP wants to have this legislation right now and secondly, why would the opposition want to give the PPP a two thirds majority on something the PPP desires when the PNC has never been shown a compromising smile by the PPP since the PPP returned to power in 1992.
In answering these two questions, it shows how rotten the old political culture from the fifties when the PPP and PNC were born still is. It shows how destructive these two parties are and how they are congenitally tied to a perception of power that leaves no priority for nationalist sentiments.
The PPP wants to recall parliamentarians that leave its benches because it does not want a repeat of the Ramjattan/Nagamootoo rebellion that could have easily resulted in a no-confidence motion against them as what Basdeo Panday experienced in Trinidad .
The PPP can hardly be described as a popular governing administration. One must never confuse the ballots given by East Indians to the PPP with admiration for Freedom House. Indian people vote race. They vote against African electoral organizations. They do not vote intellectually. They vote emotionally.
Up to the date of election, they voice criticism against the PPP. After the day of the election, they forget that the PPP exists. I have spoken to countless numbers of East Indians that voted for the PPP. They would stupidly but frankly tell you that they voted to keep out the PNC (and by extension, African Guyanese). The PPP then, despite its constant election victories is not a nationally loved government.
Fully aware of negative perceptions the country has of it, conscious that it faces penetrating criticism from the Diaspora, and uncertain of the Americans, the PPP does not want a repeat of the Ramjattan/Nagmootoo scenario.
If Nagamootoo was in Parliament when Ramjattan showed his disgust at the decline of the PPP Government, and if together they could have carried at least two more PPP parliamentarians with them, then the PPP could have been toppled in a no-confidence motion. The way the PPP and the President are behaving, a repetition of the Ramjattan/Nagamootoo could be re-enacted.
If one looks at the parliamentary composition of the PPP, that scenario is not a remote possibility. Take Nagamootoo. He is living in a fool's paradise. Nagamootoo is holding on because he believes that sooner than later Jagdeo is going to engender a huge quarrel, given his autocratic propensities, in the PPP that may result in the party looking for a survivor with experience.
Nagamootoo has in mind the Janet Jagan spat over the withdrawal of advertisements from the Stabroek News. Party insiders told me that decision has been one of many Jagdeo moves that have not found a good resting place in Freedom House.
Nagamootoo continues to dream because he comprehensively failed to understand the nature of the very party he helped to shape. Nagamootoo and Vincent Alexander could only assume the leadership of their respective parties if those parties accept the democratic formula of agreeing and disagreeing. The PPP and PNC have never experienced or ever had a democratic moment since they were born. Their leadership structure is dictatorial and horrifyingly dominated by a one-man band.
Jagdeo, in keeping with the tradition of autocratic political organizations, is going to choose his successor and Nagamootoo's dream will finally come crashing down. If there is any indication that Jagdeo is planning his move and if Nagamootoo gets hold of it, then you can have 2005 playing out again inside Freedom House.
Then there is Gail Texeira. It has been known long before the elections last year that Ms. Texeira wanted to leave her cabinet post for a position that carried less political controversy and political demands. She has an office in OP whose functions the nation does not know about.
As the Jagdeo presidency gets more stubborn, as the discrepancies between Jagdeo and the PPP widens, as the Government of Guyana gets further bogged down in unpopular policies, the possibility exists that Ms. Texeira can find her road to Damascus.
The PPP is not a stupid party. Mr. Jagdeo is not without his thinking cap. The PPP is pregnant with problems that can cause defections on its side of the House. Recall legislation can stop the government from falling. This explains the priority in bringing it to the House. The enigma about the whole thing lies with Mr. Corbin's attitude
One evening at UG, Mr. Corbin came up to me to question his grade. He was doing a compulsory course in political philosophy with me as part of his law degree requirement. He told me that if he cannot do an essay in politics that deserves an A grade then what else could he do since he has had over forty years experience in politics. I agree. Re-looking at the essay, the difference between an A grade and a B was very thin and I deservedly awarded Mr. Corbin his A grade. Let us hope that what Mr. Corbin told me so many years ago, he knew what he was talking about then.
Why should any opposition party anywhere in the world, except in an emergency situation where the country has been attacked by an enemy army, give the ruling party a two/thirds vote to change the country's constitution without a quid pro quo? Life does not work that way. Even a simple life carries such demands much less in the world of politics where the stakes are high.
There is only one thing Mr. Corbin has to settle in his mind before he takes the decision to offer the PPP the two-thirds majority. He has to ask himself how important is the legislation to the PPP and how urgent is it to them. Common sense can answer those two questions for him. Either Mr. Corbin asks for his party's demands to be given in exchange for his two-thirds generosity or he tells the PPP to put the nuts where the money placed them.