Dear Editor,
WITH reference to Hamilton Green’s ‘Thursday’s performance at the Pegasus reminded me of the mongrels in my neighbour’s yard’ of September 22, 2019 in the Guyana Chronicle. This letter speaks a thousand truths.

The Freedom House lusters-for-power and those who are their political advisers have been seeking ever since to bait the State, represented by principally the governing coalition’s largest party, the PNCR, into a public showdown that will support their plan of proving that Party, and by extension the government, of which it is a part, to be undemocratic, which has to resort to strong-arm tactics to deal with dissent/ protests.

These political gangsters began with the ugly and disrespectful parliamentary shout down, which I have always contended ought to have been put down by removing disrupting MPs from the House. That type of conduct was not only disgraceful, but an affront to both the dignity of the House and the person of the President, and should not have been tolerated, to the extent where the President could not have been heard at times. It was uncivil in every respect, and warranted appropriate response. I need not repeat the measures, which former speaker Sase Naraine said he would have taken against such a rabble.

However, the non-action by the speaker, though seemingly tolerant, perhaps as an understanding of democracy, sent the wrong signal of being too cautious, by one of the highest-ranking officials of State. This emboldened other disrespectful actions, especially those directed to the person of the President, that would have led up to the recent acts of hooliganism.

Of course, I agree with the elder statesman and former prime minister, Hamilton Green. For those reckless younger members of the PPP/C party seem not to understand what their dangerous actions could lead to, in a country that can ill-afford any repeat of its past experiences.

Editor, there is no citizen, male/female, who would have lived in those very turbulent years which Mr. Green has mentioned, who would want a re-living of its very fratricidal experiences, in an age when the country is much more polarised, and when there are numerous persons who are still bitter and angry about unfair actions suffered over the past two decades.

This is a government, notwithstanding the many unfair actions perpetrated against its daily functions, inclusive of fake news and sabotage, that has been very responsible and tolerant. Perhaps too tolerant of those who seem to believe that the government is cowed. They are so wrong. No government is. Instead, this is a government that has upheld the very tenets of a democracy that they, who now hypocritically pretend to champion, have a dark record in terms of their well-known, blatant suppression. Therefore, those who believe that their actions are a show of strength and political bravado are ill-advised as to the great danger into which they are pushing their country. They would only be jeopardising the promise of a better country which must be shared by all, inclusive of their children, grandchildren et al.

Regards,
Earl Hamilton