OLD people say, “wuh mis yuh don’t pass yuh, and yuh play with fire, yuh gon get burn.” We must take heed; we cannot allow the PPP to unleash another round of state-sponsored violence on us, because, then old people would say, “Yuh mek yuh bed, yuh gaffuh lie pon um.”
To understand the magnitude of the threat the PPP poses, we must not only look at their track record, but also at circumstances under which they operated, such as the fact that the donor community and the ABC countries had great leverage over the PPP, and applied maximum pressure to get them to respect democratic norms.

The PPP government was dependent on the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the European Union for funds for every road, bridge, school or hospital that was built. From time to time, these institutions withheld money when the PPP stepped out of line. This led to some tense inter-personal relations between Jagdeo and several representatives from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

Suffice it to say, the PPP did not roll over and accept the need for democratic norms. At every turn, they pushed and fought. They refused to allow the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to establish offices in Guyana; they rejected a loan from Britain that targeted the reform of the Guyana Police Force. They even blocked the Georgetown Municipality from accessing funds for the development of the Haags Bosch Landfill Site, and they unleashed unprecedented violence on the Guyanese people.

After the 2002 jailbreak, and the subsequent crime spree, the PPP entered into an alliance with ‘Drug Lords’ and criminals to hunt and kill young Guyanese. A minister of the government imported the equipment the ‘Drug Lords’ used for tracking their prey. And when the dust settled, over 400 young Guyanese men were dead.

All of this murder and mayhem occurred, despite the pressure on the PPP by the ABC countries to respect democratic norms and the rule of law. Despite their dire need for the loans and grants, the PPP was brazen enough to commission ‘Drug Lords’ to hunt and kill people.

Some may say the PPP only did this because of the crime situation, and it got out of control. That the people who were killed as a result of settling of old scores, or individual gang members accepting commissioned hits for a fee were just collateral damage. So what about Ronald Waddle?

Ronald Waddle, a journalist, was a very vocal and harsh critic of the PPP. He hounded them at every turn for their corruption, discrimination, and violations of the rule of law. He was silenced by way of assassination.  Evidence presented in the court in the United States established that the assassination was the work of the PPP- commissioned ‘Death Squad’.
Then there is Mark Benschop, another vocal critic of the PPP government. They trumped-up a treason charge against him, and left him in jail for five years without trial. He was eventually released without trial, confirming PPP’s abuse of the judicial process to target and silence critics.

Kaieteur News columnist Fredrick Kissoon was in for extra-special treatment. In this case, their aim was to denigrate and defile. PPP operatives threw fermented faeces in his face. This, one must admit, required a special kind of mind to conceive and execute.
Then there were more killings. Scores shot, and three killed during a peaceful protest in Linden; the action of a government that preferred to kill rather than talk to or negotiate with citizens who are engaged in effective protest.
The killings in Linden was an escalation after years of PPP-sanctioned State violence

against Guyanese. Several persons still carry PPP pellets in their bodies. Thousands suffered the effects of tear gas. One child is blind today after being caught up in PPP tear gas while she was just a baby. Then, to signal they meant business, the PPP bought armored cars and water cannons for the Guyana Police Force. The thinking of a repressive regime.

The assassination of Courtney Crum-Ewing was a stark reminder that the evil in the PPP was ever-present. Crum-Ewing’s crime was daring to think he had the right to mount a weeks-long daily protest, calling on a PPP minister of government to resign. When the assassins caught up with him, he was actively canvassing votes against the PPP. As Courtney Crum-Ewing lay dead on the streets of Providence, someone somewhere probably said, “Take that for messing with the PPP.”

The list of PPP State violence is unending, but the point is made. Even while the ABC countries and the IFIs had leverage to keep them in line, the PPP still engaged in unimaginable violence against the Guyanese people. They even had the gall to send a government minister to the home of the American Ambassador to give him a “fine busing” in front of his assembled guests.

The question we must now ask ourselves is: What would the PPP do now we are no longer as dependent on loans and grants? What would they do now that the ABC countries no longer have financial leverage? The answer is simple: Their violence would be more rampant and capricious; no one will be safe. Remember ‘Sash’ Shaw, a PPP minister of government who was murdered for threatening to expose their dirty little secrets.

The PPP unveiled their Manifesto with a list of ‘two-bit’ projects with no vision. They will be promising to do this, that, and the other. However, the real issue is not what the PPP is promising to do; it is what they must promise not to do. Have they promised not to reactivate their ‘Death Squad’? Have they promised to respect the rights of Guyanese to protest peacefully without being shot and killed? Will they refrain from jailing and killing critics?

During their 23 years in power, the PPP demonstrated all the traits of a repressive regime. With an oil economy, PPP repression would be on steroids. Like old people seh, “Wuh mis we, nah gon pass we.” Imagine all the PPP violence ten-fold, and turn out on March 2 to vote like your life depends on it, because it just might.