–the PPP is trying to divide the coalition

NOT for the first time have I been labelled a racist and extremist by the PPP leadership. The latest such labelling came from the pen of that party’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee, who identified a group of persons whom he claims are trying to push the government to take extremist positions.

According to him, this group, which includes Lincoln Lewis, Dr. Clive Thomas, Tacuma Ogunseye and Eric Phillips, is driven by racist interests and vengeance against the PPP. He further claimed that at the heart of this group’s actions are political and ideological differences.

Ogunseye and Lewis have already responded to him. Others not named have also weighed in. The quick responses are testimony to the seriousness of the charges made by Rohee. As Ogunseye reminds us, Mr Rohee is trained in the art of war-propaganda. One of the advantages the Rohees of the PPP have over the Jagdeos is their grasp of political history. They may distort that history, but you can’t fault them for knowing it; after all, they were there.

I said the foregoing to argue that Rohee and the PPP set out in that letter to do what they think is a winning strategy — drive wedges between the forces in the governing coalition. The first part of the script has been in full swing since 2011: Drive a wedge between the AFC and the PNC. In this regard, the PPP has been relentless. The intent is to tarnish the image of the AFC Indian-Guyanese leadership in the eyes of that constituency; to paint them as going against the natural wishes of the flock. The nasty attacks on Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan, and latterly on Anand Goolsarran and Christopher Ram, fall into this well-orchestrated campaign. The hope is that the Indian-Guyanese community would punish the AFC by not voting for them and/or keeping the AFC far from the APNU. The strategy didn’t quite work at the May 11 elections, but its potency as an ethnic mobilising tool means that the PPP will continue to use it.

The second part of the script was laid out by Rohee in his latest letter to the press: drive a wedge between the WPA and the PNC, and between the independent and establishment wings of the APNU. This is a more complex undertaking for the PPP.

The persons named by Rohee have all been calling for a break from the corrupt governance that took strong root under the PPP. Some of us have argued that the place to start is to identify those roots and, if possible, sanction those responsible via due process. This call is part of a broader scrutiny of the government that goes beyond calling for the heads of PPP leaders. For me, I am less concerned about going after PPP leaders. Rather, I am concerned with cleaning up government so that it can become a vessel for transformation, including equitable distribution of the country’s resources, particularly to the poor and the powerless. This can be achieved easier if corruption is minimised.

The PPP knows that governments don’t like being critiqued, particularly by those considered ‘part of the flock.’ So they are playing on this weakness. They are saying to the government leadership: “You are only pursuing PPP wrongdoing because these racist extremists are pushing you to do it.” The hope is that the government, in wanting to prove that it is not being influenced by racists and extremists, would go easy on the PPP; and, worse yet, distance itself from the extremists. This is a case of playing smart but not being clever, as Bro Bob Marley would say.

They know how defensive governments in Guyana get at being called racist. Given the pivotal role of Indian-Guyanese votes in the narrow election victory, and given the country’s general fear of confronting anything to do with race and ethnicity, they expect the government to buckle.
I can’t tell the government how to react to this latest PPP ploy. All I can say, for now, is that I will continue to support the government and defend it against the PPP’s destabilisation. I will also continue to scrutinise its actions as both a form of oversight and self-criticism or insider-critique. I will not allow the PPP’s latest ploy to deter me.

The irony is that, when very early in the government’s tenure, the PPP accused the government of extremism and ethnic cleansing, it did not attribute these accusations to those of us named by Rohee. Clearly, the PPP is playing serious propaganda games. It is simultaneously accusing the government of inherent extremism and racism and of being influenced by extremists and racists. The hope is that one or both will stick.

Maybe the PPP knows of the origins of my extremism. But what I do know is that there is nothing more extreme than a party wanting to hold on to power as a divine right. There is nothing more extreme than to preside over the slaughter of innocent poor people protesting peacefully for the right to subsidised electricity. There is nothing more extreme than knowingly exploiting the fears and insecurities of an entire group for cheap political gain. There is nothing more obscenely extreme that to distribute the country’s common resources to one’s cohorts as a means of personal enrichment. There is nothing more racist that to use the state media to criminalise the youth of an entire ethnic group, or to exploit their social vulnerabilities for your political survival.

More of Dr. Hinds ‘writings and commentaries can be found on his YouTube Channel Hinds’ Sight: Dr. David Hinds’ Guyana-Caribbean Politics and on his website www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com. Send comments to dhinds6106@aol.com