Base ambition

By any means necessary…
Some people set themselves goals that soar; others have goals that are in the gutter. The first we call ‘aspiration’, the second we dub ‘ambition’. Carl Greenidge is an ambitious man. Serving others as a technocrat for 40 years, he nursed his ambitions for the presidency, along with his envy.
But first he has to get past David Granger – for the leadership of the PNC. Ever since his ignominious defeat by a man who just entered the PNC formally (compared with his four decades of service), his ambitions have led him to ‘tie bundle’ with the extremist element of the PNC. These worthies believe the PPP can only be removed by force.
In his latest missive in the Stabber News (a mere note of 1000+ words by Greenidge’s standards), Greenidge makes two points. The first, where he dares question the chief justice on one of his (preliminary) decisions, we’ll just ignore.
Greenidge just embarrasses himself with his patent lack of knowledge of the law in general and our Constitution in particular.
In the second point, wherein he sought to excuse the lack of any substantive accomplishments by the opposition in the first year of their “one-seat majority” in the House, he revealed the extremist agenda. He admitted that most of the opposition actions “were intended to penalise the PPP”. That is, with all their boasts of the plans they have for Guyana, all they really wanted was to “penalise the PPP”. Personal scores to settle! Greenidge next conceded: “The opposition has only won a majority in Parliament and not the presidency.” So why did Greenidge demand that he participate in drafting the budget which is solely in the bailiwick of the executive? The answer, of course, is that Greenidge just wants to play president.
He showed that nothing will deter him from deposing the PPP. He announced shrilly that the opposition must “muster the weight of extra-parliamentary forces”. Significantly, he didn’t say “civil society”, but “extra-parliamentary forces”, the old PNC code for street elements. He further declared: “To expect the one-seat majority alone to unseat the government is a dream.” So, not surprisingly, his final warning was to Granger: “the leaders of political parties in particular”, who focus on parliamentary action. Beware of overweening ambition!
Blind loyalty
Harry Gill claims he’s a friend of both Glenn Lall and President Ramotar. But it’s obvious in his hierarchy of friendship, Lall far outranks the president. The Muckraker carried a self-serving letter from Gill: “The onus is on President Ramotar to right this injustice and avoid tarnishing his reputation.” And what is this ‘injustice’? “That Dr Ranjisinghi “Bobby” Ramroop, owner of Guyana Times, was given a radio licence in preference to the ‘Media of Choice’ in Guyana – Kaieteur News.”
In this, of course, Gill repeats the standing libel oft committed by the Muckraker – and just as often corrected – that former President Jagdeo “gave” this licence to the Queens Atlantic II group. But since when has the truth deterred the KN from its yellow journalistic practices? But the rest of the Guyana should heed that truth. Queens Atlantic bought VCT, which had an outstanding application for a radio licence. The Court of Appeal ruled and directed that the NFMU – which is the entity that allocated radio licences, not Jagdeo – should grant the licence to VCT, which by then was renamed TVG. The government agreed with the broader ruling that there should be other radio stations and granted licences to nine others.
Are Gill and KN arguing these should’ve been denied? With friends like these, President Ramotar doesn’t need enemies!
Confused
AFC apologists Rose and Sase “Thunderbolt” Singh complains: “Nothing in the (PPP’s) constitution … has changed significantly since … it was formed over 60 years ago.” But since they praise Dr Jagan’s long leadership under that same constitution, why change it?