Dear editor,

I READ a very concerning open letter published in the print media, authored by Joe Singh, Major-General (Retired), suggesting that President Granger should call off the ‘Dogs of War’.

First and foremost, I have never personally met or spoken to Joe Singh. My opinion of him is based on what I would have read in the print and digital media. Having said that, I was taken aback by his statement that he has never voted, despite the fact that he would have been eligible to vote for at least 10 election cycles. The argument he puts forward is bordering on the ridiculous, and is clearly a failed attempt at putting himself forward as being apolitical.

Personally, I do not believe that hogwash emanating from the retired Major-General, and he would have been better served by keeping such foolish comments to himself.  While I do not know Joe Singh personally, I do know his late brother, Dr. Benjie Singh, a vicious ‘Dog of War’ that he should have controlled. When Dr. Benjie Singh died last year, I wrote a letter to the media, outlining my not-so-nice experiences with him. Generally, I do believe that one should not speak ill of the dead, but when the Indian Arrival Committee chose to have a revisionist approach to history by characterising both Dr. Benjie Singh and Ronald Gajraj as great Indo-Guyanese, which was clearly not the case, I had to provide balance to their statement.

The fact is that Dr. Benjie Singh was a part of the PPP’s ‘Dogs of War’ machinery. When innocent Afro-Guyanese were murdered by the ‘Black Clothes’ and the ‘Phantom Squad’, Dr. Benjie Singh and the PPP-aligned GPHC hierarchy would present themselves in A&E in celebratory mode over the bullet- riddled bodies of the innocent dead Afro-Guyanese men. The murderers were conferred with “OE” national awards in the A&E. I took my oath of “First do not harm” and “respect my patients” very seriously. What I witnessed, as a doctor just out of medical school, I have written about on many occasions, and this can be easily corroborated. So no one can accuse me of confabulation.

I would assume that since the retired Major- General has not commented on other relevant recent events, that his Internet is a tad slow. As a result, the terrorist incidents inside GECOM have not yet arrived in his inbox. These unsightly terrorist events include staff being verbally and physically assaulted, and the Chairwoman, Justice Claudette Singh’s office door being kicked in. When the unbiased Major-General does receive these images, I would be grateful if he can identify the owner of these vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ and pen them a severe reprimand in the media. Also, I guess the retired Major-General has not received the images of the terrorist attack at Lusignan, where schoolchildren were attacked and hospitalised with broken bones; police were attacked, and they too hospitalised with broken bones; school buses were attacked; private cars set on fire; cane fields and properties burnt; innocent civilians threatened by a gentleman with a gun; roads blocked with logs, and tyres set ablaze. Mr. Joe Singh, I will render you some assistance. The owner of those vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ is Bharrat Jagdeo, whose pre and post-election utterances triggered them. Would you be penning him a reprimand in the print media to muzzle his vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’? Better yet, can you muzzle him?

What Guyanese are witnessing had transpired in 1997, albeit many have developed selective amnesia. The only difference is that the Presidential Candidate for PPP, Mrs. Janet Jagan, said, ‘To hell with the laws of Guyana’, and threw the court document over her shoulder, after being egged on by the then GECOM Chairman, Doodnath Singh. The elections were then rightfully but belatedly vitiated by Justice Claudette Singh. Joe Singh, what Mrs. Janet Jagan did when she threw the court documents over her shoulder and had PPP bouncers assault the court officials as they attempted to serve the court order to stop her swearing in, was that unconstitutional? If it was, why were you silent? Why you allowed these vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ to have their way?

Let’s examine the political and crime situation in Guyana in the early 2000s, which I briefly alluded to. There was definitely a ‘Phantom Squad’ murdering mostly innocent Afro-Guyanese. As a matter of fact, hundreds of them were murdered by these vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’. Why were you silent Joe Singh? A sitting Minister, Satyadeo Sawh and others were gunned down in his house by vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’. This was a period where over 50 policemen were murdered; where police were forced to place massive padlocks on the gates of their police stations, and the streets were a veritable ghost town. Why was the Retired Major- General silent while these vicious Pit Bull- type ‘Dogs of War’ roamed the streets? What about the Bacchus brothers who were visited by the ‘Angels of Death’ in the form of vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ when they revealed the existence of the ‘Phantom Squads’? Any comments Major-General Singh? I am quite sure Joe Singh would concur that discrimination, victimisation, marginalisation, et al are not consistent with the Constitution. All Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ were unleashed by the PPP, and yet again, the Major-General is silent. WHY?

You see, Joe Singh is yet another “victim” who is struggling with the “psychological trauma” of being part of a group that the President deemed “not fit and proper”. It is this label and tribalism that motivated this poorly-timed missive, when this political and legal process is working towards a resolution. Don’t tell me nonsense about sanctions and comments by the ABCE countries! They were also silent when Guyana went through worse, but now barrels are overflowing with oil, they are aware of the fact that Guyana is much more than Jim Jones. This tribal approach to issues in Guyana, where one group is always labelled bad, would forever result in conflict. These tribal allegiances would result in silence when their fellow Guyanese are being mauled by vicious Pit Bull-type ‘Dogs of War’ that look like them, but come out breathing fire when the tables are turned, would have only one consequence. TRIBALISM BY ALL. Unless we see each other as Guyanese; each other as brothers and sisters, then Guyana as a country would be reduced to a Land of Six rather than one people. In my opinion, justice should be blind and rightfully so.  If we as a people see an injustice against a Guyanese but keep silent because the victim does not look like us, then as a people we are feeding our own ‘Dogs of War’. Sadly, folks like Christopher Ram, Seelall Persaud and Joe Singh are telling us to euthanise our Chihuahua-type ‘Dog of War’, while they are secretly feeding blood to their Pit Bulls.

Regards,

Dr. Mark Devonish