A Nelson’s Eye

Iniquitous inquiry
Even though he betrayed his British military training when he supported Burnham’s call for officers to swear fealty to him (Burnham), David Granger is a military man. He knows about the story (whether apocryphal or not) of Lord Nelson’s blind eye. He knows that “to turn a Nelson’s eye” is to ignore all the evidence of what is clearly before you.
And this is what Granger does when, in seeming righteous indignation, he notes the “criminal violence in Guyana during the ‘period of troubles’ on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara and elsewhere – which were harmful to the public welfare” but then calls for “a commission of inquiry to inquire into the unlawful killings of citizens during the years 2004 to 2010.” What about the killings that started in 1998 following the PNC’s protest of the 1997 elections? What about the killings after the 2002 jailbreak when Buxton became a ‘state within a state’? Were these not “criminal violence”? Or maybe they weren’t “harmful to the public welfare”? To think about it, this is not to “turn a Nelson’s eye” but to wilfully tear out one’s eyes like Oedipus so as not to admit an unpleasant truth. Oedipus had slept with his own mother.
Granger’s blindness is due to a no less heinous cause. He does not want an inquiry to the mayhem and murders of 1998-2003 because he fears the PNC’s nexus with the criminals would be exposed. Desmond Hoyte, who was the PNC’s leader at the time, unapologetically made the nexus public when he attended the funeral of the notorious bandit Blackie London in 2000.
London had been identified with much of the criminal rampage between 1998 and 2000.
Andrew Douglas, the leader of the “Freedom Five” who broke out of jail on Mash Day 2002 had been a member of Blackie London’s gang. Granger as a former head of the GDF would know of the Buxton child soldiers and, in the words of Freddie Kissoon, “a certain former army officer has been recruiting these youngsters”. He would know too about Kissoon’s further assertion that “The night of the morning before he died, Dale Moore and a certain lawyer with aspiration to lead a major political party and who pays not even a cent in taxes was conspicuously sporting on the embankment.” Dale Moore, of course, was one of the “Freedom Five”. But Granger wants us to also be wilfully blind to all of this.
More Nelson’s eyes
Mark Archer, who is now APNU’s information officer, was an officer in the GDF under Granger (notice his military style designation? Roger, over and out!).
From his letters to the press (in which he never lets on about his paid position) he has obviously learnt well from his commanding officer. Turning a Nelson’s eye appears to be second nature with him.
In his latest polemic, in which he castigates the sculptor of the 1823 Monument for daring to agree with the Ministry of Culture, he asserts: “It is a historical fact that the geographical and emotional epicentre of that rebellion was the area known as the Promenade Gardens and the Parade Ground.” Really? He should consult with Granger who is a historian.
Or is Granger also blind to the historical record? No one disputes that the 1823 revolt occurred on the East Coast of Demerara. This is where the unarmed slaves took on the might of the British government. This was the locus of their finest hour. So where does Archer and his ilk get off talking about the Parade Ground as the “emotional epicentre” of the rebellion? The descendants of those heroes are to revel in their executions?
Police pay
The Private Sector Commission (PSC) asserts that for the police reform to work, the pay scale must be raised. We agree.