Dear Editor,
I REFER to a letter published in the Kaieteur News dated September 21, 2019, titled, “The crown of dictatorship will not be allowed to rest easily on Granger’s head,” in which it was stated, “As experienced with Burnham’s goon squads of the past.”

Robin Singh, your puerile attempt to rewrite history would have been laughable if the situation were not so serious, since in the not-too-distant past under the PPP/C’s reign: Donna McKinnon was shot from a bullet allegedly emanating from Freedom House; the police shot nurses for protesting for better wages and conditions of work; the sugar workers from Wales Estate were teargassed and shot with rubber bullets; Mark Benschop was jailed on a trumped-up treason charge; Oliver Hinckson was also jailed for speaking about what Bharrat Jagdeo felt was dissent against his government; a young man was locked up for two weeks for displaying his middle finger at Bharrat Jagdeo’s motorcade; protesters in Linden were teargassed and gunned down, James Bond, an attorney-at-law, Brigadier Edward Collins together with other protesters were shot in their backs while protesting; others were badly beaten and hauled to the Brickdam lockups….do you need more reminders? The list is long and bloodied and this is but just a small sample of the human rights violations meted out to Guyanese whenever they exercised their democratic right to protest.

Additionally, permission had to be applied for when any group or person wanted to peacefully picket or protest and the use of a white armband had to be worn, declaring that it was a peaceful picketing exercise.

Pray tell Robin Singh, where were the voices of reason asking for respect for citizens’ democratic right to protest, asking for the powers that be to respect the right to life in the prevalence of extra-judicial killings, when even speaking out for your rights could land you in jail under the PPP/C, or you could end up dead like Courtney Crum-Ewing.
For all the likes of you who have found your voice after 2015, LET ME HELP YOU TO REMOVE YOUR PARTISAN BLINKERS, for your edification and those that you may influence with your lies and propaganda. The word dictator according to Google search; Wikipedia and Microsoft Word Smart Look Up reveals that: 1) A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. 2) A ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force, respectively.

Based on the above definitions, democracy is alive and well in Guyana, since David Arthur Granger was democratically elected in the general and regional elections and was duly sworn in 2015 as the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

After the power-grabbing no-confidence motion in December 2018 and the legal challenges which ensued, both the local courts and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) utilised by both the government and opposition, the 90 days within which elections should be held, lapsed on March 21, 2019. At the end of appeals, the CCJ upheld on June 18, 2019, that the no-confidence motion was validly passed, but it did not order any mandatory period within which elections should be held. The CCJ did not, and could not write into the Guyana Constitution a second 90 days within which elections should be held. If it did, then the new election date should be on or before September 18.

There is no second 90 days. September 18 is a fiction, a figment of the infertile imagination of the political opposition. Hence it stands to reason that President David Granger remains the president until after elections and will remain so until the general and regional elections are held and a new president is sworn in.

The civil liberties which were restored since the APNU+AFC government assumed office were on display during the opposition PPP/ C protest outside the Pegasus on September 19. No one was beaten or shot or hauled off to the Brickdam lockups, even in the clearly hostile situation where Minister Karen Cummings was held hostage in her car for 30 minutes, while protesters beat the car and one leader of the protest said, … “we can do whatever we want(to the car) because it’s taxpayers’ money…”

Perhaps Mr Singh you might want to review that footage and rethink what constitutes a peaceful protest and it would serve democracy and all of Guyana well if you can advise the leader of the opposition to sit with the President and discuss, as the CCJ advised, on the way forward for a political solution, to go back to parliament and agree on a two-thirds majority to set a date for elections!!!

I am below 25 years and I can only reason from my experiences. I need a future for my children and family to live in peace, unity, stability and prosperity, because all Guyanese need to benefit from the oil resources which will soon result in untold wealth and which will belong to all Guyanese and if we are united, we can all prosper.
Regards
Ceion Rollox