Dear editor,
AS a kid brought up in a deprived community, one of the cardinal rules I’ve learnt is that one should never flaunt one’s wealth in public, since in so doing one may draw the wrong attention to oneself. Events of the last 12 days have caused me to reflect on what was inculcated in most of my compatriots and myself. It is this childhood knowledge I would use to rationalise recent events in Guyana.
Guyana post-independence history has always been one of troubles and conflicts. As a matter of fact, this is not unique to Guyana, for the British by a process of colonisation exploited our wealth. We in the Caribbean served to build, feed and enrich their empire while we the toiling locals received minimal returns for our hard labour. Post-World War II, Britain was in significant economic, infrastructural and human resource difficulties. As a result, they looked to the workforce in the Caribbean to assist the rebuilding process of Britain, which was destroyed by war.
Soon after, it became evident to the British that the economic benefits of the colonies were on the decline. As a result, Britain went on a journey of relieving themselves of that economic deadweight. The fact after years of being robbed of its resources, the colonies were not well developed since most of the wealth went to the British Empire. Also because of the actions of the British, whether intentionally or unintentionally, there was mistrust between the major races in Guyana. In the eyes of the Empire we were no longer of benefit to them, hence no longer their problem.
And so it would be for over half a decade. The mistrust between the major two races continued and would become more evident around the time of elections. Some politicians who were shortsighted would use it for their political gains and cared less about the post-election problems. I would never fool myself to believe that any political party was solely at fault. What I will say is that they were problems during PNC’s 28 years in power. These problems were mostly economic in nature for the PNC government ventured on self-provision policy that was not clearly articulated to the masses. As a result, the intent was misinterpreted and misunderstood with the inevitable result of a division along racial lines. On the other hand, the PPP’s problems over their 23 years in government were crime, the narco-trade, corruption and extra-judicial killings. These were thoroughly ventilated during the election campaign, so there is no need to rehash them. Suffice to say that after over 1000 extra-judicial killings, the only action taken by the ABCE countries was to confiscate the visa of Ronald Gajraj, the then Home Affairs Minister, since he was linked with the phantom murderous squad. And that was it. No other intervention required by the ABCE countries, at least that is what they want us to believe.
So now Guyana is experiencing troubles, which are not new, but now the international community is suddenly aware that Guyana exists. We had a similar electoral problem in 1997 when the then presidential candidate, Mrs.Janet Jagan, threw the court injunction over her shoulder. I am quite sure at that time that we had diplomatic relations with the ABCE countries, but they were all silent. We have had murders, rampant drugs, rampant corruption, and post-election conflicts among others, but the ABCE countries were silent. So why are they so vocal now? Why the sudden interest in Guyana? What has changed?
What has changed is that we now have oil. We see the actions of the ABCE countries when they wish to have that country’s resources. They create a crisis for which they invade and destabilise those countries in their desperation for oil. The key is to make the country ungovernable, exactly what they are doing to us. Forget about this garbage of democracy, much worse has happened and they cared less. The point is that the volume and quality of the oil in Guyana can significantly influence oil prices. That would be a serious concern for the ABCE countries since they would like to be in control of that because it can impact their economies.
As a result, the ABCE countries would rather have their puppet in charge. That puppet would be Bharrat Jagdeo and he will be the one under the control of the ABCE. Why? It is likely that the ABCE countries have a thick, damaging and incriminating file on Bharrat Jagdeo years in and out of office. These puppeteering files would be used as control strings over his head to control him and Guyana’s oil. They cannot do that for Mr. David Granger since no such file exists. That is exactly what is playing out in front of your very eyes as you see the ABCE ambassadors stumble over each other to make a supportive case for the PPP. The fact is that through greed, Bharrat Jagdeo was just using the PPP electorate to get his hands on power, a control of Guyana’s oil which he will pass on to the ABCE countries.
Guyana was exploited during colonisation. We were robbed of our sugar. We were robbed of our rice. We were robbed of our bauxite. We were robbed of our gold. The fact is that we are still living in abject poverty while those countries that exploited us are living in wealth, while demanding visas for us to enter the countries our sweat built. We as a people need to wake up.
The ABCE countries don’t care about you. The ABCE countries don’t like you. Don’t believe for a minute that they are with me. Disregard their concerns about democracy, that is an excuse to distract you as they siphon off your oil. They had also said that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before they changed the narrative that he was involved in 9/11. That’s them! For decades they ignored us and our problems but now turn up because they wish to have their puppet in charge. No, it is not going to happen. You have stolen enough from us. Leave us with our oil so that we can develop as a country. We don’t need your assistance to solve our problems. We can solve our own problems that you have created. We are One people, One Nation, with One destiny. We as a people will build our nation and determine our destiny.
Regards
Dr. Mark Devonish
