Changing goalposts

Forked tongue
Justice Cecil Kennard has just been sworn in as the last member of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Linden shootings. So you’d think we’re moving towards closure on this issue, wouldn’t you? But perish the thought. In one of the most egregious examples of reneging on their word, APNU announced they’re not satisfied with the terms of reference (ToR) of the CoI!! You heard that right! This is the same APNU that negotiated with the government for interminable weeks, making one demand after another. All to which the government acceded – and now they have the chutzpah to say they’re not satisfied??!! First they wanted foreign jurists on the committee – they got it; then they didn’t object to the ToR looking into which group started the whole protest business but after bowing to AFC pressures changed their minds – and got their way. We don’t have to go on… you get the idea. It’s been one thing after another with APNU. But to now object to the ToR when the commission’s in place and about to take evidence takes the cake. And what’s this objection about? That Lindeners want the inquiry to also include engagements between protestors and police in August.
Their lame excuse for not bringing this up earlier (they certainly brought up everything else – plus the kitchen sink) is that they only had one negotiator! That’s right… just because Joe Harmon is now deemed to have been placed way above his pay-grade, we must start all over again.
But we can see where this is headed, can’t we? All of this storm and fury is to set up the commission’s eventual report for a fall. APNU and AFC are not going to accept its findings and they simply want an excuse as to why they’ll be balking. This is the brutal truth but it’s standard operating procedures for the PNC – in whatever incarnation it chooses to act.
Remember when they brought their street forces out to demand a “forensic audit” of the 1997 elections results by Caricom – and then balked when the elections were deemed to be above board? Remember when they presented a whole list of projects to be done in “depressed communities”? (Meaning PNC’s strongholds, of course? Other communities, including Amerindians are living high off the hog.) The projects were all completed and now Sharma Solomon has presented another list.
Guess what peace either initiative (the CoI or Linden projects) will bring us? The peace of the dead.
Ensuring no progress
AFC’s mouthpieces Asquith Rose and Harish Singh asked in their latest harangue in the Muckraker, “Are the poor and the working class in Guyana better off now than they were nine months ago?” Talk about mealy-mouthed hypocrites! Here you have the reps of the party that stirred up trouble in the sugar belt – when the industry needs collective cooperation to bring it back from the doldrums – and they ask about the bottom line. If the AFC were not so obsessed about getting a share of the Consolidated Funds way beyond the parliamentary salaries and the duty free SUV’s they’re now enjoying, they’d admit that sugar workers will only be helped if they buckle down with management.
Isn’t this the same party that rushed down to Linden and stabbed APNU – and eventually all Guyana – in the back when they forced that party to renege on the agreement it (and concessions) had forced from the PPP government? That’s right… the entire turmoil in the bauxite belt and the interior, which brought that sector of the economy to a grinding halt, was caused by the AFC. And they’re asking about whether the working class is better off?