THERE isn’t even an infinitesimal doubt in my mind that one of the most heart-piercing tragedies in Guyana’s history would be used by anti-government citizens in a vulgar game of low politics. Once I heard about the tragedy last Saturday evening, I knew the Pavlovian reactions would run wild. When you are in politics as long as I am, you simply know your country.
What I saw Terrence Campbell did in Guyana would not be allowed in any other country. Campbell himself described the loss of lives on the ferry as the worst disaster in Guyanese history. He dismissed the Jonestown massacre as an American affair even though over 900 humans lost their lives on Guyana’s soil.
In such a situation, the security forces would have cordoned off that area, setting a perimeter by maybe two or three miles in which no other person except government officials and local and international military personnel would have been allowed to enter. This is standard security procedure in all countries in the world.
Go to YouTube and look at the scene of any terrorist attack, multiple homicides, or natural disaster, and you would see strict enforcement prevented even members of parliament from entering the disaster area. What was Campbell doing there without being part of a permitted search and rescue party? Campbell was there in an ordinary civilian boat.
Then Sherod Duncan went into the area and used drone facilities, for which he was detained but not arrested and charged. At the time of writing, I have no information that state officials allowed Duncan into the disaster area. Duncan would not have escaped being arrested and transported to a police station if he had pursued his droning activities in another country that was in the throes of an unprecedented disaster.
In the midst of this bravado by Campbell and Duncan, the families that collectively lost about a hundred lives and the respect for those 100 dead persons were not part of the politics of Campbell and Duncan. Campbell has an evocative way of laughing, which may be part of a self-destructive temperament.
I saw him with all his teeth exposed while smiling in a speedboat travelling up to the site of the disaster. I saw Gordon Moseley introduce Campbell on his programme to discuss the tragedy and Campbell was laughing. Just go to the interview and see for yourself.
The mind does not allow you to laugh or smile if you are being introduced on a programme to discuss the third saddest tragedy in Guyana’s history. For me, the first was the ethnic cleansing of Indians in MacKenzie in 1964 and the second was the Jonestown massacre.
Why was this gentleman laughing when invited to speak to Guyanese on the ferry tragedy? I have been in journalism for 38 years now and I would have rebuked any guest that I invited and during the introductory part of the Freddie Kissoon Show, the guest was laughing over the ferry tragedy. Campbell is set to be the next leader of the PNC. He is the wrong person.
Finally, Sherlina Najeer. She was detained on the Kingston esplanade on the Georgetown seawall, where a night of reflection was being held for the victims of the ferry tragedy. Ms. Najeer held a placard advocating the jailing of Minister Edghill. I am an extremely untraditional person but I know in life there is a time and place. Anti-government people should have a heart and participate in vigils for the dead. It doesn’t mean your presence there is in support of the government.
Your presence there should be motivated by the respect you want to show for the innocent Guyanese who lost their lives in the tragedy. Every Guyanese should attend an event held in whichever part of Guyana to show your condolences. This is our duty of being part of the Demos. Ms. Najeer has a right to protest and to shout out from the rooftop how she feels about Minister Edghill.
But to use an evening of mourning for the dead to shout out that the minister must be jailed is an act of stupid bravado. This is my fourth column on the ferry disaster, and in all of the previous pieces, I predicted that those perished souls whose bodies lie in the Atlantic Ocean will be mercilessly exploited for narrow political attraction.
This is exactly what Ms. Najeer did. She is not alone in her crass psychological display. As soon as the ferry toppled and the word got out that there was a disaster, another disaster occurred – the display of the inherent brutality of the tragic Guyanese mind.
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.
