I MADE a note of it several times and I am doing so again – a political analyst in Guyana can never wake up in the morning and compose the analysis he had in mind days before.
As soon as you get up and peruse the social media landscape and scan the newspapers, you immediately postpone your intended piece because exigency stares you in the face – you see something that you must write on right away.

My piece for today was to be an examination of class solidarity by Nigel Westmaas and Percy Hintzen with the Mulatto/Creole class from where they originated by looking at some extraordinarily comical and repellant opinions from these two gentlemen. Westmaas is of the opinion that Martin Carter is Guyana’s most profound thinker and Hintzen thinks Red Thread is the group whose activism can help save Guyana.

But today I shifted the topic because of what I read in the so-called independent private media; that a group of civil society organisations have come out against government’s attitude to the teachers’ strike. I quote: “Several civil society groups have called on the Government to adopt a more dignified and legally defensible approach to resolving future industrial disputes.”

So, who are these groups that are supposed to belong to civil society? One is the Guyana Workers’ Union headed by Mr. Norris Witter. He has been at the helm for more than 20 years. On the Freddie Kissoon Show, Mr. Witter, when asked about the five months of attempted rigging of the March 2020 elections, told viewers he did not and does not know anything about that.

For five months the country was facing the devastation of social stability and this man, in 2023, said he knew nothing about that. So much for a dignified and legally defensible approach to holding free and fair election.
Next in is the Guyana Trade Union Congress headed by Mr. Lincoln Lewis.

He has been at the helm for over 32 years and is in his early eighties. Here is what Mr. Lewis said on July 28, 2020 when the conspiratorial rigging of the election was in full swing: “Mr. President, it behoves (sic) you to cancel these elections. You have the power, you have the right to so do… Mr. President, for the good of Guyana, her laws and people, cancel these elections.”

So, Mr. Lewis writes about “dignified and legally defensible approach. But he wanted, in July 2020, the most undignified and illegal intervention by the president to cancel a national election for which the president has no such constitutional power; not to mention the president would have been the beneficiary of a rigged poll because he was the presidential candidate for his party.

Here are Mr. Lewis’ words on Minister Priya Manickchand made on June 3, 2024: “When I look in the mirror, looking back at me is a big man in good shape. And I’d have liked to ask the minister to take a similar look in her mirror and turn to this nation and say why has mother nature been so cruel to her? She sets no good example. I guess, the saying ‘lipstick on a pig; it is still a pig’ may be most apt at this time.” Talking about the dignified approach – is this outburst such an example? Can a person who insults a woman using an undignified approach be part of civil society?

Before moving off from Mr. Lewis, some questions need to be asked. Which mirror he was looking into? Does Mr. Lewis know that the mirror can lie? Also, when you look in the mirror what the mirror shows, you will not accept because you believe what is inside your mind. The mirror only reflects reality while your mind deceives you. I would humbly suggest that Lewis buy a modern mirror from a modern furniture store.

Another group that penned the statement is the Guyana Human Rights Association. Talking about legality, can this civil society entity tell us about its legal periodic elections to elect its office-bearers?
Signing the statement also is Transparency International – Guyana. It was missing in action from March to July 2020 when the transparency of the general election was assaulted in the most brutal way to produce an undignified, illegal opaque result. Guess who is on the list of signatures? Red Thread. This is a body that wants the teen alleged to have murdered 20 humans to be charged with arson instead and wants Guyana to get out of oil production. I see red when Red Thread insults my country.