I feel very compelled to pen this response. It has to deal with an ‘important man,’ who has been allowed too much leverage in Guyana. I am speaking here of Mr. Hamilton Green. He is a ‘never-to-be-forgotten’ man. His notoriety should be documented too. A henchman for the PNC under LFS Burnham, Green was rejected by Burnham’s successor, Hugh Desmond Hoyte. This bold and necessary ‘chopping’ of Green still speaks for all to hear.
First Green (in the KN, June 11, 2011), speaks of the ‘imperative of securing the nation’s integrity, (and that) every patriot must share his views about the significance and relevance of the vehicle of mass communication in a free and democratic society.”
Well, this sounds absurd coming from Green. I must ask Green where was this concern during his evil tenure, so evil, that his own leader became fearful of him. So shrouded in this kind of history and ambience, one has to ask Green to ‘stay put.’ He had a chance to change the policies he now rants about whilst the PNC was in office, but did otherwise.
Green elaborates that “Guyana is the only country in the free Western Hemisphere – where (there is) … only one state-owned and controlled radio station.” But he deliberately forgets that this was bequeathed to the nation by his PNC leaders. Currently, the situation is being addressed. So when Green refers to Guyana as being in a “Stalin-like grip” because of the media impasse, he only has to ‘glance over his shoulder,’ and let truth and reality come back to him. Under the aegis of the PNC (where Green went berserk at times), Guyana was under intimidation.
In fact, what Green is now saying about the Government was not possible in the days of the PNC. Now Guyanese have a voice – they say and write whatever they want. It is so free that citizens actually abuse the government of the day.
As a closing note, I can safely philosophise that the privileges now afforded to Green are most undeserved. At no time would a PNC regime have allowed an ‘enemy’ to hold public office, and with it, speak/write anything against it. Green is an aberration to the ‘no-recrimination’ policy of the PPP.