Dear Editor,

BRIGADIER Mark Phillips, as a former officer of the Guyana Defence Force, I would like to express my sympathy for you, and I will provide reasons for this statement. I am not here to attack you, but to challenge you. It appears to me and many others that your decision to accept the PPP’s offer as Prime Ministerial Candidate was a poor one.
Most officers of the GDF trained in your time have a national outlook, because, for us, the nation comes first. Several other former officers would have refused the offer to become the PPP’s Prime Ministerial Candidate, because they would see no way in which they can influence the PPP to give up its racist attitude, and to concentrate on treating Guyanese as equals.
For 23 years, Afro-Guyanese watched with disgust and saw firsthand how all the visible Africans in the PPP were reduced to stooges and tools in the hands of a relentless racist machine. Imagine Sam Hinds and Roger Luncheon steadfastly stifling their consciences while all Afro-Guyanese plus Freddie Kissoon condemned the unacceptable behaviour of the PPPC.
Let me give you some examples, and you should check my facts. For 23 years, more than 90% of all government contracts went exclusively to PPP supporters. The Afro-Guyanese communities were deliberately suffocated and marginalised. In 1991, King Solomon imported cars, but by 2014 he was destroyed. In 1991, the Africans in this country had eleven (11) rice mills, today we have one. Do you think this was by accident? The PPP’s aim was to destroy the economic base of Afro-Guyanese at all cost.

The truth is, if you ask your predecessors in the PPP, they will tell you they saw nothing wrong with the behaviour of that Party, yet most Afro-Guyanese resent them. Since there is no acceptance of any fault, there will be no effort to change. You are taking up where they left off, and that is why you are likely to fail. Had you the courage to criticise the PPP when they were wrong and commended them when they were right, people would believe in you. However, that is a price which you may not be prepared to pay, hence, Brig. Mark, we all think that you are just another face. You may be capable, but not courageous at all.
If your motive is purely personal, then that is your right, but do not try to deceive Afro- Guyanese, because you are toying with the lives, livelihood, and the future of generations.
For us, it is better that the PPP loses and you fade away as a bad dream, than for the party to win and you become a laughing stock like Sam Hinds, Juan Edghill, Roger Luncheon and the Reverend Kwame Gilbert; all “fell in and covered down” with their tails between their legs.

Yours Truly,
Former Army Officer
Name Withheld