THE Burnham USA/UK team let loose the “dogs of war” on Guyana when the two countries decided that Forbes Burnham was the “lesser of two evils”, thus precipitating the most destructive era in the history of Guyana, barring none, when the Guyanese nation was almost self-destructed because of machinations of two unscrupulous and merciless global superpowers and a decadent and power-drunk local despot’s bid to bring down the PPP government led by Dr Cheddi Jagan.
Today those wounds in the soul of the nation are being healed – slowly but surely, although the “dogs of war” are ramping up the crime wave. However, only those who own the dog can call off the dog, and there are many promises of “addressing the security problem” in Guyana.
The aging but ambitious Granger is now trying to portray himself as a career soldier who was patriotic to his country; but which patriot wages war against his own people? As one letter writer said, he “…will now have to explain his role as Forbes Burnham’s Political Liaison Officer at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), and in the 1973 seizure of ballot boxes by the GDF that gave the PNC a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Even the PPP has never been able to amass a two-thirds majority in any election with their superior numbers, but the PNC did it in 1973, with a little help from their loyal friends in the GDF. It is not good enough to sweep this issue under the rug by explaining how loyal a soldier Granger was… only following orders. Professional ethics and his conscience should have forced him to resign from the GDF rather than remain part of a machinery that disenfranchised so many Guyanese, and stole the elections from the PPP.
By placing his career above the interest of the Guyanese people; by remaining loyal to Burnham and the PNC; by his continued silence over the years on the GDF-executed election fraud in 1973, and by publicly pronouncing – at regional and international fora the right of the army ranks to mercilessly gun down unarmed PPP supporters, who were only trying to protect the integrity of ballot boxes that were being hijacked by army personnel, David Granger has forfeited his right to question the decisions relative to any matter of state, or to take issue on any matter of national interest. Whether an active or inactive participant of the murderous activities of the dictatorial PNC regime, former President Jagdeo’s contention that Granger has “blood on his hands” does have some merit.
Granger was also security advisor to Desmond Hoyte during the worst election rigging in the history of Guyana, superseding any of Burnham’s efforts, and he strategized many of the policies that kept this nation captive and subjective to PNC bullyism and dictatorship, with the result of every Guyanese family suffering unimaginably, except for a special few elites who were provided luxurious lifestyles, much state property, and who accessed every type of foodstuff that the people of the land had to line up in long queues for, especially as a result of Hoyte’s much touted Economic Recovery Programme, which was dubbed as “Empty Rice Pot”, and which froze the wages of Public Servants at $2,000. That is, until Dr. Cheddi Jagan, upon his accession to office, told the IMF to put their draconian conditionalities where the sun does not shine and re-opened wages and conditions negotiations for the labour force, because the PPP has always been a working class party and Dr. Jagan, whom has always championed the causes of the downtrodden, refused to bow to the might of the IMF juggernaut.
Granger’s platform during election hustings was security; so will this aging presidential aspirant call off the “dogs of war”; or does it serve his best interest to increase the pressure on the ruling party, as per the past strategies of the PNC, which ramped up the crime wave through the X-13 Plan and the “Slo fiah, and mo’ fiah” strategy of Desmond Hoyte, while calling on their “kith and kin” in the joint services, whom they consider their personal property, as they do their electorate?
His record is there for all to see, for those who want to see, and for those who want a country that is free from fear of the machinations of aging and ambitious glory-hunters.
The army put him out to pasture, but he has already eaten up all the grass, now he wants to devour the nation. Linden is a prime example of political opportunism at the expense of destroying the nation and degrading the development of Guyana; and ironically every time the PNC rampages, it is their own support bases that suffer the most; except when they are burning down businesses out of the sphere of their own communal networks, so while they use their supporters as “dogs of war”, they fail to realize they are decimating their own people’s interest; or maybe that is their target to justify their perennial claims of PPP neglecting PNC strongholds – destroy the infrastructure and developmental/investment climate then cry “foul”, but the only foul thing is the continuum of destruction the PNC leaves in its wake every time it lets loose the “dogs of war” on the nation, and then it sanctimoniously washes its hands of the resultant fracas like Pontius Pilate, but like Christ, the nation always rises again; and no doubt the Linden episode will soon be relegated to one more instance of PNC “Dogs of War” let loose on the nation.