Pandora’s Box
‘Adopting a holier-than-thou attitude and blaming the Government is also not a new stratagem for the leaders of the opposition and their satellite media houses in their attempts to garner public support. Running a country is no cakewalk, and the President of Guyana has been overwhelmingly honoured by the CARICOM and international communities with several major portfolios.’
There is a Guyanese saying – not in very nice words, to the effect that a very dirty person likes to take their mess and daub it on others.

Fudgy Freddie is once again fudging issues to make blue seem red and vice versa, along with the opposition cabal.

Now I do not give that moron an iota of attention, because he has long since lost any degree of credibility.

However, his column headline caught my eye because it was on the Ministry of Health fire. Sure enough, he did not disappoint (or he did, depending on the way you look at his skewed fulminations).

Freddie is blaming the Government for the fire at the Ministry, which is in line with the opposition cabal’s hypocrisy in pretending to be upset at this recent in a long series of destructive acts encouraged, aided and abetted by elements who project themselves to be leaders of the society.
‘The President said that Mr. Ramjattan disclosed his own culpability in the sale of five vehicles he obtained duty-free through concessions granted him as a Parliamentarian, because he had taken umbrage, which he expressed via a letter, to what he felt were disclosures from the Integrity Commission, implying that the Integrity Commission should hold such information confidential. However, the President contends that to accuse others of wrongdoing one must have an impeccable character, and that the Integrity Commission has been established to ensure that our lawmakers adhere to the laws of the land, legally and morally, and to hide findings of investigations would be defeating the purpose of the Integrity Commission.’

This is not unexpected, because Freddie thinks the world should revolve around him, and because he is not given the importance he thinks is his due (and the accompanying privileges) by the administration, he concocts the wildest accusations against everyone with the most peripheral association with any member of the Government.

From absolute devastation, Guyana is slowly emerging to take its place in the international community second to none in the CARICOM fraternity of nations, primarily because of the visionary leadership of Dr Cheddi Jagan and his acolyte, current President Bharrat Jagdeo.

To reach this level of development from a bankrupted exchequer and international goodwill, devastated physical and social infrastructures, and a demoralised people, merely within the span of just over a dozen years, is a supreme achievement by people who have demonstrated their commitment to nation-building – in every perceivable way.

To accuse these very people of undermining their own indefatigable efforts to restore our country to a place where all Guyanese can one day achieve a life and lifestyle compatible and comparable with the best any developed country can offer is so ridiculous as to border on the criminal.

The Government should sue Fudgy Freddie for, not just suggesting, but openly accusing the administration for paying youths from Albouystown to set the city afire, when there are so many eyewitnesses and electronic records of who the actual perpetrators were.

Witter’s remark on Channel 9’s programme, “First Look,” and Corbin’s open threat by paralleling Guyana with the coup in Honduras, given the violent history of this country, and the roles these men have played relative to such aspects of our history, should be indicators of the dangers we currently face as a nation.

The fire at the Ministry of Health and the attempted arson at the Ministry of Works should therefore come as no surprise to this nation, long held hostage to PNC threats and temper tantrums.

The President does not de-link the AFC from the PNC because of the shared history of both leaders in methodologies used to destabilise the PPP Government by attacking the institutions and the citizens of this country.

He considers the inclusion of Khemraj Ramjattan, who is very idealistic and naïve, as a smokescreen to camouflage the real intent of the AFC, along with the PNC, which is to bring the PPP administration to its knees, even if it means destroying the nation, the assets of the nation, and the regional and international recognition and goodwill with which it is now being conferred.

They ignore the fact that Guyanese citizens were made pariahs in the CARICOM nations because the PNC laid waste our resources, our pride, our dignity, and made us a nation of beggars, scorned by members of other countries that once saw our Guyana as a Mecca to which they aspired.

The President is calling on the AFC to explain their certainly that the fire happened because they are not allowed shared governance. The President said that Mr. Trotman is speaking on this matter with a great deal of assurance, enough to indicate that they may have some knowledge of the perpetrators of this heinous act. If this is so then it is their duty to report their suspicions to the police.

The AFC’s statement that the way to prevent such occurrences is through power-sharing can be seen by any discerning person as a threat: “Make us a part of the administrative equation, or else…..”; but then the AFC leadership evolved from that embryonic fold and were integral to the policy that drove “slo’fiah, mo’ fiah” as a way to the, not assumption, but wresting of power by any means whatsoever.

The President has asked if they are implying from their statements that the fire was a political act. If so, then how and what they know should be stated to the relevant law enforcement agencies, especially since most of these gentlemen making these claims and statements are lawyers.

In any other country they would be required to do so, instead of engaging in publicity gimmickry and challenging Guyana’s Head of State to a public charade, (which the President justifiably called a circus), which they are aware that the President would not condescend to engage in for many reasons, nor least that he is dealing with major issues that could very well change policy directions in the world, that will ultimately redound to the benefit of our entire earth.

The President said that Mr. Ramjattan disclosed his own culpability in the sale of five vehicles he obtained duty-free through concessions granted him as a Parliamentarian, because he had taken umbrage, which he expressed via a letter, to what he felt were disclosures from the Integrity Commission, implying that the Integrity Commission should hold such information confidential.

However, the President contends that to accuse others of wrongdoing one must have an impeccable character, and that the Integrity Commission has been established to ensure that our lawmakers adhere to the laws of the land, legally and morally, and to hide findings of investigations would be defeating the purpose of the Integrity Commission.

Referring to the agitation being caused by the opposition and its ancillary media houses over the proposed sale of Government’s GT&T shares, the President said that he has instructed Finance Minister Ashni Singh to raise it for debate in Parliament for the sake of transparency.

However, President Jagdeo referred to all the mechanisms that have been put in place by the PPP/Civic administration to ensure that these matters are transparent and done within the framework of accountability to the nation, very much unlike the secretive and underhanded way the PNC divested the nation of major assets, including GT&T, while both Messrs Trotman and Corbin were integral to the PNC’s policy-making processes.

Adopting a holier-than-thou attitude and blaming the Government is also not a new stratagem for the leaders of the opposition and their satellite media houses in their attempts to garner public support.

Running a country is no cakewalk, and the President of Guyana has been overwhelmingly honoured by the CARICOM and international communities with several major portfolios.

It is the height of arrogance for anyone to arrogate to themselves such importance as to assume that the President will abdicate the responsibilities invested in him, primarily by the people of this nation, and also by Heads-of-States of CARICOM and first-world nations, to undertake activities that would benefit the world in general, and Guyana in particular.

The opposition had a better opportunity to do all these things while they were in Government to make their impact in a positive way, because they had inherited a sound economy and infrastructure.

They instead chose to demolish our nation and our people, leaving a legacy of devastation from which we are still struggling to emerge.

Today, while ostensibly appearing to care, they are once more taking this nation down that destructive path.

Guyanese need to determine, not with their emotions, but with their minds, what they want for their country, their families, and the coming generation, because the portents are very dark – that evil is afoot.

A simple case in point, as the President pointed out, is the advantages gained by the average Guyanese citizen, in terms of price, by the new regime governing cell phone services.

At one time only the very rich could have owned and used a cellphone because of the prohibitive costs, but GT&T does not have a monopoly over this service so they were forced to adjust their prices because Digicel now provides competition.

Guyanese need to choose whether to listen to opportunistic politicians blinding them with clever rhetoric because they crave power once more, or whether they use the minds that God blessed them with and choose to help develop their nation, instead of torching national institutions and, consequently, the development of their own country, the wellbeing of their own families, and the patrimony of future generations.