– Hamilton Green says as the electorate rejects its ‘propaganda’

WITH the electorate openly rejecting its “propaganda,” the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), now in a state of panic, has resorted to hooliganism, former Prime Minister, Hamilton Green said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Guyana Chronicle, Green, who also served as the Mayor of Georgetown, said the PPP/C has embraced the Stalinist policies and ideas of governance and disturbance as he alluded to the “disruptive protest actions” being led by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP/C Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali.
“I think they are disciples of Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, whose idea was, if you repeat a lie often enough, it would soon be accepted by the populace,” the former Prime Minister said.

Geobbels was a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest and most devoted associates. Like Geobbels, the PPP/C is employing all forms of media to peddle misinformation, Green said.
“So if you look at the newspapers, and the radio and the television, wherever they are, that is their philosophy – repeating that the government is illegal, it is not; repeating that the president is out of order. The president has done all things within his power to ensure that there is some balance and sanity brought to the affairs of the country,” he said.
Since the December, 2018 No-Confidence Motion, Green said, the Government and the Opposition have utilized the maximum legal procedures. The No-Confidence Motion was upheld by the High Court on January 31, 2019 but on March 22, 2019, the Court of Appeal by a 2-1 majority invalidated the motion on the basis that an absolute majority was not acquired although the Opposition has secured an extra vote to defeat the Government. It was not until June 18, 2019 that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – Guyana’s final appellate court – validated the No-Confidence Motion. In handing down its consequential order on July 12, 2019, the CCJ stated clearly that the Government, as a result of the passage of the No-Confidence, will remain in office as an “interim government,” until a new President is sworn-in.

The former Prime Minister said notwithstanding this fact, the Opposition is demanding that the President Granger and his Government step down, and in keeping with its Stalinist policies, is attempting to create conditions of uncertainty through these disruptive protest actions.

“I think they are wrong because they are not dealing with a 1960’s generation. I have been through the 1960s with the horrors of the PPP. I was General Secretary from 1962 and had to face the onslaught of bombs, the machine guns imported in bags but today you have a new communication opportunity, so people are reading what is happening in Guyana from the Far East, in England, in the United States, and not easily fooled by the machinations and gyrations of these people,” Green reasoned.

According to him, at the forefront of PPP/C’s mission are people who have no credibility. “One man is a Bishop; Bishops don’t behave that way, they go and preach and try to win souls for the Lord; I have talked about McCoy and I asked him to sue me, because I employed McCoy as my personal assistance once, and he stole letter-heads from the secretary’s office, forged my signature, and attempted to secure funds, so he has no moral authority to speak on anything. Irfaan Ali, I don’t even think the PPP supporters take him seriously. So in the frontline they are using people who have no credibility,” Green told this newspaper.

With elections months away, Green said the PPP/C is now “panicking.” He said President Granger is unmoved by the party’s constant threats, and will proclaim a date for General and Regional Election at a fitting time in keeping with the advice of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

“No Opposition, no set of diplomats can force him to make a decision before he is ready,” he said while adding that “no credible leader rushes into an election.”

“The PPP didn’t do it; they fixed dates to suit themselves. So what we see here is a manifesto of a group that is panicking, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this coincided with the return of Roger Khan,” he further added.

Green is of the opinion that the PPP/C maybe attempting to distract the populace from the fact that under its administration, convicted drug lord Roger Khan and his Phantom Squad were given ‘license’ to kill. “We all know that Roger Khan was hand mitten by the Jagdeo regime. He took 400 lives…I wouldn’t be surprise if this new wave of fancy-foot works is somehow related to Roger Khan’s return as a diversionary measure from being reminded that Roger Khan was a product of the PPP,” he said. He reminded that Khan, before being captured in Suriname, had placed a full page ad in the local newspapers confessing that he was acting on behalf of the then PPP/C government. The nation, he said, must never forget.

The former Prime Minister is therefore urging Guyanese to throw their support behind President Granger and his coalition government. “I would advise the people to stick with the coalition first of all, there is no alternative. Secondly, citizens must press the two major political actors to sit down and talk,” he said.

President Granger, having met with his Cabinet, is slated to address the nation on the political situation in the country tonight. It is likely that he will proclaim a date for elections then.