Dear Editor,
AS the world watches, waits and hopes to see if Guyana, and by extension the government which has won the elections, will cower, buckle and give up its victory to satisfy the interests of the “international community” comprising only of the ABCE countries, of allowing the defeated PPP/C to become the illegitimate government under the pretext of preservation of democracy and respect for the will of the people; irony at its best!
The people have spoken, but their will is being denied by too much shenanigans that’s preventing GECOM from completing its work.
The government of Guyana, comprising of a six-party coalition administration led by arguably the best President of Guyana in the 21st Century, stands resolute in its free and fair victory at the polls. Mr. Editor, my pontificating must be put in context to give effect to my reasoning.
President David Granger has done what no other President in this country or Prime Minister in the region was able to do. He has been able to lead a coalition of six political parties with different ideologies, philosophies, identities and leadership styles. Parties that were once bitter rivals on the political landscape that came together for the benefit of Guyana formed and sustained a government that has begun to rescue and restore this nation which was on the brink of destruction.
Guyana, before 2015, was considered a narco-state by the United States government, where extra-judicial killings were constant, freedom of the press was consistently under threat, outspoken opposition and political activists, including a former Minister of the Government and his family members, were beaten, jailed and assassinated.
Innocent protesters, true defenders of democracy, were beaten, jailed and shot dead. Democracy was on the verge of collapse, just like the country’s economy. The former American Ambassador Brent Hardt, God bless his soul, received a first- class cuss-out, or to put it mildly “a feral blast” from a former Minister of the PPP/C administration “Satire Girl” for suggesting to the then government that they allow democracy to be reinstated with the holding of constitutionally-due local government elections, which they ignored until the new government came and restored local democracy.
The government of the day had no respect for workers nor their unions; that was the Guyana David Granger and his ‘Coalition Government’ inherited, with a task to fix it, and that they did.
The Granger Administration embarked on the restoration of Law and Order. The government collaborated in partnership with the Americans and established a DEA office that was refused by the then PPP/C Administration which resulted in the drugs and piracy situation coming under control, extra-judicial killings ceasing, and freedom and respect for the press being restored. Real respect for the Separation of Power was re-established with the executive, the legislative and judiciary. The real legal economy began to grow, to the point where old-age pension was increased significantly, as well as all public servants salaries. Infrastructural works improved and extended to the hinterland communities, and a more serious approach was given to the nation’s education sector, etc.
Mr. Editor, coupled with all of the Opposition challenges and sabotaging of the Government’s efforts, a renewed sense of national pride and nationhood resonated with our people, both here at home and in the diaspora; they were now a proud people.
Guyana was on the rise, and with the announcement of the ExxonMobil Liza discovery, everything was moving upwards in the right direction.
But who would have thought our assumed ‘Big Brother’ and their friends would, from all appearances, conspire with the Opposition and attempt to bully a democratically-elected Government out of office?
Mr. Editor, it was the famous Henry Alfred Kissinger, an American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the Presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, who posits these iconic words that holds real truth to our present political situation: “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”
Mr. Editor, I say this unashamedly and resolutely as a proud Guyanese, that this is an “independent” Cooperative Republic of Guyana, and we as Guyanese must put our interests above all other foreign interest. Our people must come first; we are not a colony. And during those horrific times, we have overpaid with our blood, sweat and tears, when we were slaves in their colony. And I daresay, reparations are still due to us by our former inhumane colonisers.
Additionally, Mr. Editor, it must be made known, unequivocally, that we are not subjects to imperialist ambitions to be dominated and exploited by foreign nations of our natural resources due to their military might and threats of economic embargoes and sanctions via tweets or other forms of communication. We are a full-fledged functioning democracy, where we live peacefully and abide by “our” Constitution and Laws, and have the utmost respect for our Judiciary. All of which are sacrosanct principles of modern democratic societies.
Mr. Editor, it is therefore incumbent upon all conscious and right-thinking Guyanese to emphatically reject the camouflage and cunning invasion and intrusion of our homeland by the so-called “international community”, comprising mostly of western powers that threaten our sovereignty of nationhood and democratic processes. The creeping interest into our internal affairs as an independent State by foreign interests must not only be investigated, but must also be emphatically rejected and refused by all, for it has the potential to set a dangerous precedence by those with interests that don’t coincide with ours.
Mr. Editor, the outright brazen intrusion into our affairs as an independent State by the ABCE representatives has blatantly breached accepted international diplomatic relations. It is without question, Mr. Editor, that Guyana or any other country’s representatives/ambassadors would not and will not ever be allowed to act and function in the unscrupulous manner in which those foreign countries have, moreover in their elections processes.
Mr. Editor, could you abuse your mind to envisage our ambassador to Canada, the United States, Great Britain or the EU manoeuvering like their counterparts here in their country’s election, or in the US’s upcoming elections in November 2020, where the ‘tweeting’ senators will be contesting? Would our ambassadors even be offered observer status, or are they too “small and poor” to be engaged in the affairs of the high and mighty, all-powerful rulers of the universe?
Mr. Editor, as long as the concept of sovereignty exists as prerogatives of independent nations and people are, as a right of all people, we will not accept the exclusion of our nation and its people; that right our independence promises. Mr. Editor, we may not have been fortunate, as a nation, to benefit from and amass unimaginable wealth for the most heinous crimes to humanity, slavery or the genocide of thousands of Indigenous people, nor have we benefited from the mass exploitation of natural resources of foreign lands once colonized, or from the ravages and spoils of wars that brought no peace.
But let it be known that we are a peaceful people, who have been struggling in our struggle for far too long; we are an intelligent people, who are quite capable of managing our own affairs as civilised people who adhere to “our” laws of “our” independent country.
We deserve, as a people, to play a defining and pivotal role in the managing of our nation’s resources, and ensuring that our Guyanese people benefit handsomely from its patrimony. We do welcome partners, and encourage partnerships with friendly States, because we live in an interconnected world that needs each other to coexist. Mr. Editor, we as a God-blessed country require of the “international community”, including the entire African continent, South America, Asia, Central and Latin America, CARICOM the Islamic States, China, Japan, Russia and all other countries of this interconnected world to respect all other independent and sovereign States as they require for themselves.
Regards,
Jermaine Figueira
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_01_04_2020