Dear Editor
Dear Editor, the mischievous, disrespectful and condescending letter recently penned by Major General (MG) Joe Singh, attacking President David Granger, is a reflection of spite and bitterness held by him against the President of Guyana. There is little doubt that MG Joe Singh, now deemed “unfit and improper” by the Guyana constitution, seeks to pour scorn on the President, the Presidency and the APNU+AFC and its supporters in a hasty fit to be somewhat impressive to the international community. After all it was MG Joe Singh who agreed for his name to be placed on a list of nominees in the “fit and proper” category. Make no mistake, his letter was written in an attempt to impress the internationals and national elites that Guyana is not doomed. MG Joe Singh is still here! He can save the day!
He is a true professional and apolitical. He thought the President was wounded and without reserves. He miscalculated badly. Consequently, there is also no doubt that the blow back from his fateful letter was unsurprisingly not calculated by him. MG Joe was never a good planner. However, a good talker he was. Unfortunately, the blow back evidence has exposed his unprofessionalism and political bias. Remember, this is a man to whom image is everything, even if it has to be constructed on falsehoods. Apart from the exhaustive evidence of his ability to be a stranger to the truth, or as put by one writer “an inveterate liar”, and his invention of being militarily present at key GDF historical events, to name a few, there are some salient features of his letter that still need examination.
Firstly, his opening hoodwinked pitch “By choice, I have never voted in any national and regional elections because I pledged to serve my country and not any political party… [m]y loyalty is to the Constitution”. Editor, every officer in the GDF pledges loyalty to the Constitution. MG Joe is not unique in the regard. Further, all Guyanese citizens pledge loyalty to Guyana via the national pledge. One can only be loyal to Guyana if one is loyal to the Constitution of Guyana. Again, he’s said nothing unique to himself. However, his bravado statement that refers to “… I have never voted…” is a paramount lie and there are hundreds of officers and soldiers who can attest to the MG casting his vote in Camp Ayanganna.
More importantly, however, is the fact MG Joe Singh was appointed Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission for the 2001 Elections and was responsible for the management of the entire electoral process. Are we to now believe that Guyana had a non-believer in ‘exercising a right to vote’ as Chairman of GECOM? Did MG Joe Singh disclose this to the then President and Leader of the Opposition? It does seem to be a contradiction in terms to have as Chairman of GECOM, a person who refuses to be an elector. It begs the question also of his stewardship during his tenure. Was it purely for pomp, ceremony and pecuniary benefits? As one who doesn’t believe in voting, did he actually manage the elections of 2001 or was that delegated to someone else? Further, does the MG realize that a refusal to vote is equivalent to a rejection of the democratic process. Is MG Joe Singh aware that in establishing the nation state of Guyana, thousands suffered genocide, thousands suffered genocide and enslavement, thousands were indentured, and hundreds were imprisoned so that today we have a right to vote? Or is it that the MG couldn’t care less who suffered for the rights of all of us to vote.
MG Joe Singh
Equally important for readers to understand is the fact that MG Joe Singh retired from the GDF and immediately took up the appointment of Chairman of GECOM. The officers and ranks of the GDF were shocked. The MG never said a word to us. Of course, he couldn’t let that cat out of the bag. MG Joe Singh allowed himself, while serving as Chief of a Staff, to be recruited by the then Leader of the Opposition to be one of six nominees from whom a Chairman would be selected. Mind you, a Chairman who is constitutionally bound to be impartial. That was the essence of being political. So much for his grand statement of being professional and apolitical. In my view, there seems to be a grave misunderstanding on his part as to what apolitical actually means. Editor, A hoodwinker is a person who deceives or tricks others into believing that an attribute is specially attributed to him only. However, the blow back evidence lifted the veil of trickery and now we see the collar of deceit wrapped firmly around the MG’s neck. This is a man who is trying the hoodwink the Guyanese people.
Secondly, he conjures a veil of deceit in his letter when he dismisses his thirty plus years of service in the military by not naming any of his military appointments in an effort to hide his connection to the PNC when he said “ How else do you think I was appointed to or held very senior positions in the Armed Forces, then as Chairman of GECOM, as head of Conservation International Guyana, CEO of GTT, Chairman of NAREI, Chairman of the GGMC, Chairman of the Protected Area Trust , and as a non- political Special Assistant to three Presidents…” Editor, allow me to put his military appointments in the political context of the time.
The GDF underwent a major command shift in 1978/79 resulting in then Brigadier Norman Mclean becoming Chief of Staff and then Colonel David Granger becoming Force Commander. Colonel Joe Singh, as he then was, was appointed Brigade Commander. All those appointments were made by the late President Burnham. Shortly afterwards, Colonel Joe Singh was plucked out of the GDF and appointed Director General of the Guyana National Service. How more political can such an appointment be? It was the late President Burnham who appointed him.
Further, the GNS was President Burnham’s most treasured national institution. He believed then that unless the minds of our citizens were moulded into one neat mosaic of national purpose and identity the nation state would not survive and prosper. He placed that responsibility into hands of the then Colonel Joe Singh. To his compliment, MG Singh has said, on occasions, that he was also a personal emissary on behalf President Burnham to a number of West African nations. As Director General of the GNS, he visited and met with West and other Afrikan Heads of State on Burnham’s behalf. This is a confession that he dealt with political matters! He certainly wasn’t his handmaid. A personal emissary is a confidant. MG Joe Singh was a confidant of Burnham.
This is his hand of deceit
In 1990, President Hoyte appointed then Brigadier Joe Singh as Chief of Staff of the GDF, an appointment he held for 10 years. Editor, all the appointments in MG Joe Singh’s career came through the PNC governments. His career was set and kept in motion by the efforts of PNC Presidents. Yet we live to see him not celebrate any of the two presidents and, more recently, attack the Party whose governments shaped his entire three decades of military service. We also see him attack the current Leader of the PNCR, we see him attack the President of Guyana and we see him attack the members of the PNCR. This is his hand of deceit, veiled as if he knew not of any of the benefits accrued him. In another forum, it was described as ingratitude! What manner of man would work so close to so many Presidents, PNC and PPP, and not be motivated by them to cast a vote in favour of their policies? Of course, if you are falsely reinventing yourself, then deceit and hoodwinking are handy tools.
The third feature of his disrespectful letter that I wish to examine is his consternation and bitter attack at not being appointed Chairman of GECOM for a second time. In his rant he said “ … having been deemed by you [President] to be not a Fit and Proper Person, as a principle, I chose to resign from all government appointments”. The MG showed his by this statement that he became anti Granger and left himself open to be pro anything. Now we know that it’s pro PPP since he’s failed to admonish any wrong-doing or irregularity on their side at any time, then or now. He also said, “I have forgiven you for classifying me and other nominees for the Chairmanship of GECOM as Not Fit and Proper Persons but I will not forgive you if you fail to do the honourable duty of calling off the Dogs of War”. These are words of a bitter man! Not a friend as he claimed in his letter. Why would MG Joe Singh be so furious at not being appointed Chairman of GECOM? The answer will unfold below.
Several other questions arise. Why would MG Joe Singh allow his name to be on a list of nominees for GECOM Chair knowing fully well that he held that job once before? It seems obvious that the MG never considered that he would be rejected as a nominee. To do so would be unthinkable. Well he was wrong! He was rejected and now he is bitter. Consider this also, why would MG Joe Singh allow his name to be on a list of nominees for GECOM Chair when according to his words he “[has] always held [the President] in high esteem as a colleague and friend of nearly six decades”? Doesn’t that suggest that the MG ought to have considered that he would be perceived as biased towards his friend, the President? Would it not be proper for him to protect his friend, the President, and not allow his name to go forward. At least that’s what an honourable officer is bound to do.
Further, why would MG Joe Singh allow his name to be on a list of nominees for GECOM Chair knowing fully well that he was working for the Government? Why would the Leader of the Opposition agree to submit MG Joe Singh’s name knowing of his claimed six decades of friendship with the President? The answer is very simple. When one looks at the top nominees from each of the three lists, not the padded persons, who didn’t get the appointment as Chair of GECOM; when one looks at who headed the OAS and Commonwealth Observer Missions along with their biased and one sided monitoring and when one juxtaposes that with the disrespectful, abusive and, at times, misogynistic manner in which the current Chair of the Elections Commission is treated, it becomes clear that the plan of the PPP was always to control which male Guyanese becomes the GECOM Chair. And in that context, MG Joe Singh was a willing participant who accepted to be recommended by the Leader of the Opposition. Importantly, the tone of MG Joe Singh’s letter is clear evidence that he is bitterly biased against the President and indeed not a fit and proper person.
Rejection
Disappointment and rejection led to his bitterness! And would encourage him to stoop very low with his asinine words and racial undertone. That unfolds below.
Finally, his sleight of hand. MG Joe Singh launches a vicious attack on the members of the PNCR and by extension APNU and the Coalition, designed as if he, MG Joe Singh, has come to the rescue of the President. Here’s his rescue pitch, “…you have to now choose between pampering to a Cabal who bode you no good and who certainly do not have the national interest nor your interest at heart”. Editor, a cabal is a clique, and in this context it’s a derogative epithet which is undeserving of the members of the PNCR. Then again, bitterness! After describing the members of the PNCR as minions, cancerous tumours, warped and dogs (dogs of war is just a sham a sham), the MG spins his rescue web and says “ [t] hat such a commendable initiative [a national recount] should be stillborn as a result of an injunction originating from your own party, sends a worrying message”. Firstly, the MG should be ashamed of describing members of the PNCR in such a manner. Shame on you Joe. Additionally, the MG is clearly contemptuous of anyone in the PNCR approaching the courts. It is ok for the PPP approach the courts, but not the PNCR, how dare him? He then accuses the PNCR, the same organization that built him, of manipulating the constitution, national institutions and Services. Of course, he presents no evidence except to parrot the PPP’s narrative. He then accuses GECOM of mismanagement and proceeds to instruct the President on his duties when he arrogantly said “It is now your duty to exercise the leadership responsibilities vested in you, and to direct with GECOM, the peaceful and orderly completion of the electoral process by ensuring the mission is accomplished, that is, the agreed recount of all ballots cast in the Guyana 2020 General and Regional Elections”.
Applying pressure
Editor, it is important to recognize that the main purpose of his disrespectful letter was to make a case for a national recount. His main purpose was to apply pressure to the President so he can break the law. Why else would he encourage the President to direct GECOM to do this or that? Perhaps, that’s how MG Joe Singh operated while he was Chair of GECOM. He simply took directions and never considered them breaches of the law. What ‘friend’ encourages another to break the law? That sounds like spitefulness on steroids. Article 161B of the Guyana Constitution prohibits political parties from becoming actively involved in the management of electoral process. MG Joe Singh knows that! The Representation of the People Act prescribes a procedure for recounts. Those were followed by the Returning Officers. MG Joe Singh knows that too! So, what’s the game? The objective is to pressure the President to find a solution outside of the laws of Guyana. So why would MG Joe Singh encourage President Granger to commit unlawful acts? Once again bitterness, revenge, spite and the possibility of entrapment.
Finally, I agree fully with MG Joe Singh when he said, “Let this poisoned chalice pass Mr President”. You are correct MG Joe Singh; the poisoned chalice is your letter. So let is pass. Your next letter must be an open one to the Leader of the Opposition, let’s hear you upbraid him.
Continue to stay strong Mr President!
Regards
Retired Senior Military Officer
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-31-2020