President Jagdeo cannot look me in the eyes The Freddie Kissoon column
Kaieteur News
December 3, 2006

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The PPP leaders, both in the party and in government, and the state's diplomatic representatives abroad, particularly Norman Faria in Barbados, are raging against the decision of the Canadian Refugee Board to grant political asylum to a Guyanese family that accused the ruling party of persecuting them and threatening their lives. You read the Mirror newspaper and the writers tell you that the Board investigators did not do their investigations properly and were biased.

Let me pause here and inform readers, using diplomatic and subtle language, that PPP leaders do not know, but will now know through this very article here, that Canadian officials from time to time contact certain type of Guyanese citizens here in Guyana to verify if the applicant's request for refugee stay is legitimate. I hope readers are able to read between the lines. It will come as a surprise to the ruling party if it is told that the Canadian investigators are often in touch with Guyana. Let the PPP study what I have just written here.

All kinds of silly excuses PPP officials are using to argue against the decision to grant a Guyanese family exile status on the claim that their lives were endangered because of the politics they espoused. So we arrive at the fascinatingly curious question – do we believe the family when they told the Canadians that goon squads from the ruling party in Essequibo were bent on harming them. My answer is yes, I believe them. But there are details to be explained. There are PPP violent bullies that would hurt East Indian activists that belong to other parties. And they are at work and have been at work since the PPP came into power in 1992. Given the permanent web of insecurity in which the PPP lives, extremists of Freedom House would resort to violence if they feel PPP interests are threatened. They have done that since 1992, they have done it to that particular family that the Canadians rescued, they are doing it now and they will continue to do it.

But here is the crucial dimension to this violent politics. The crudities are not perpetrated in Georgetown or even in Region 4. We in Georgetown don't see this type of oligarchic bestiality because it doesn't occur here. It doesn't occur in Region 4. The independent press is strong and active in Region Four. If a cane-cutter is taken to the backdam and given a good thrashing because he tried to form a trade union to oppose GAWU, the next day, his picture is all over the television and in the newspapers. It was not accidental that the family that was rescued from danger by the Canadians came from a quiet Essequibo village. It is in these areas that the anti-PPP activists, mostly East Indians, are harassed, intimidated and beaten. It is simply shocking to know how many villagers in quiet corners of the countryside in Regions Three, Five and Six told me that they would have feared for their livelihood if they had allowed their bottom houses to be used for AFC groundings during the election campaign.

I saw that fear in the eyes of these people as I spoke to them. It is something I will never forget. I saw that very gloom in their eyes 25 years ago when Burnham ruled Guyana. During the reign of the WPA, we went to a family in Cane Grove (Mahaica) to request their bottom house. I remember this stocky, aging, grey-haired guy, simple and innocent looking, pleading with us not to force the issue because he feared victimisation from the NDC. The NDCs were Burnham's bully boys; they are now the PPP's bully boys.

In quiet little enclaves in the countryside of Guyana, people that are open in their relation with the opposition are brutalised and cowed into submission by PPP thugs who control the NDCs. Sadly and most sickeningly, these people accept their fate and surrender. Sadly again, we in Georgetown don't hear the cries of these people and rush to help them. We did that when Burnham was ruling Guyana. For some esoteric reason, we don't do it anymore. The Canadians have come to the rescue of these victims of oligarchic demonism in far reaches of Guyana but Guyanese themselves leave these people to be beaten into servility.

Fortunately, this particular family managed to slip out because they acquired Canadian visas. On reaching Canadian shores, their story was told. Happily, they were allowed to stay in Canada permanently. Those farmers and villagers in these quiet and deserted neighbourhoods in Guyana that would love to serve the Alliance for Change or ROAR or the PNC will continue to live in trepidation. One must understand how the violence works. It operates at three levels – physical, financial and psychological.

A farmer may like the AFC and is willing to invite them to hold a bottom house meeting. But he needs water for irrigation from the NDC's pumps. He would not get it. A cattle owner may need fields for grazing of animals. That would be denied if he shows support for the opposition. There may be open defiance. Then is when there are mysterious fires and long knives in the dark of night move eerily and find their victims. The Canadian investigators know about these things. There will be more asylum applications. More will be granted if the PPP does not call off its dogs of intimidation.

We come now to the inevitable question: do President Jagdeo, Mrs. Janet Jagan, Donald Ramotar and other top PPP leaders give the orders. My answer is no. Do they know about this invisible, silent violence against innocent Guyanese that chose to support political parties other than the PPP? My answer is yes but with qualifications. When PPP leaders are told that their bouncers are on the loose victimising and beating up East Indian villagers that oppose the PPP, they refuse to act. Their silence is tantamount to condoning such fascist-like methods.

I once wrote an analysis for President Jagdeo and gave it to Robert Persaud to deliver it. I pointed out to Jagdeo that a close confidante of his was hurting a wide range of Guyanese because of the power he derives from being a policy-maker at the Ministry of Finance. I gave Jagdeo examples of this man's abuse of Guyanese citizens. A few months after, he was promoted. President Jagdeo cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that he does not know that his underlings are hurting people. The Guyanese people know who they are; Canadian refugee investigators know that too. Let the other Guyanese victims in Canada expose the thuggery that is going on in the countryside of this territory.