A FLYER has been circulated on the Labour Day March today. Three photographs are on the paper – Lincoln Lewis, the forever owner of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and its buildings including Critchlow Labour College; Norris Witter, the forever head of the General Workers’ Union; and Coretta Mc Donald, Member of Parliament for APNU.
Before we enter our discussion proper, a slight digression – the photo of Lincoln Lewis on the flyer has him in his forties. In fact, Lewis is in his early 80s. Now why would Lewis announce his (must be “his” because the GTUC is Lewis, the Critchlow Labour College is Lewis, and the annual GTUC May Day rally is Lewis) Labour Day event and feature a photo of himself when he was in his forties?
I am capable of Freudian analysis but there is no column space to get into a Freudian explanation as to Lewis’ state of mind.
This year’s march will end on the small lawn of the Local Government Union because the GTUC building burnt down a year ago and there are no signs of the rebuilding process. The question is – with the jaded, faded GTUC leadership of Lewis, which is now in its fortieth year, is there ever going to be a GTUC head office again on Woolford Avenue?
This is indeed sad. Two historic organisations in Guyana are facing gradual dissolution – the PNC and the GTUC. There could be ways to save both, but Norton of the PNC has to be shipped out, and Lewis must be shown the door.
On the flyer are these words: “Honouring the centenary workers’ struggle for one man, one vote.”
If there are any two people on planet Earth who do not understand what “one person, one vote” means, they are Lincoln Lewis and Norris Witter.
I wrote several times on this page that one must look hard, apart from the United States, to find a country whose politics carry more comical content than Guyana. Norris Witter is co-president of the Guyana Human Rights Association.
This is the only human rights grouping in the entire world that was silent when an election in a country in which this group resides and functions in, was being rigged for five months.
Witter was the guest of me and journalist, Leonard Gildarie on the Freddie Kissoon Show, and when asked about the five months of rigging in 2020, nonchalantly looked me and Gildarie straight in our eyes and said, “I don’t know anything about that.”
Yet, this man today is speaking at a Labour Day rally in which the theme is celebrating one person, one vote. You see what I mean about comical politics. But the comicality becomes vulgar when you read about what Witter’s colleague, Lincoln Lewis, had to say about the rigging of the March 2020 national election.
Here are Lewis’ words in July 28, 2020, when the entire world endorsed the legitimate results of the 2020 election in which the PPP won: “Mr. President, it behoves 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, Lewis wanted a man who contested the election and lost it to use his incumbency and cancel the election. The ignorance of Lewis was larger than the combined oceans of the world. In Guyana’s constitution, there is no provision for a sitting president to annul a general election.
If he/she does that, then it is the illegal seizure of power tantamount to a coup d’état. Only two institutions in Guyana can annul the results of an election. One is GECOM.
The other is the High Court sitting in an election petition trial. The forever president of the GTUC today will be speaking at May Day 2026 in recognition of one person, one vote.
What is not to be forgotten on Labour Day 2026 is that Mr. Lewis will be the lead speaker for 25 consecutive years. For the past 35 years, no one else has spoken on behalf of the GTUC except Mr. Lewis. For the past 35 years, no one else has written a letter in the newspapers on behalf of the GTUC except Mr. Lewis.
The GTUC is currently in court over rental issues with a tenant of the Critchlow Labour College. Under the constitution of the GTUC, the head of the GTUC is the final decision-maker of Critchlow Labour College.
A final parting word, Mr. Lewis loves to comment on who is ugly and who is not. He once wrote that he is better looking than Minister Priya Manickchand and Freddie Kissoon. When last did Lincoln look in the mirror?
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
