Denouncing dictatorial rule

The dictatorship that Burnham created did not creep up on the Guyanese people in the dead of the night but was constructed, brick by brick, in the brightness of day. It started when he decided in 1967 that he would rig the 1968 elections. His junior coalition partner, Peter D’Aguiar of the United Force, had protested Burnham’s unilateral actions, especially to subvert the Ministry of Finance, headed by himself. Deciding he would not become the PNC’s handmaiden to destroy democracy, D’Aguiar left the Government in late 1967 and denounced Burnham’s incipient manipulation of the electoral system.
Over the last four and a half years, we have seen the present leader of the PNC, David Granger – a Burnham protégé who had helped construct the first dictatorship – act in the same high-handed and unilateral fashion vis-à-vis his partners in his APNU coalition and in government, the AFC. Early in his administration, Granger also signalled his intention to subvert and control the electoral system to ensure he was returned to power. However, unlike D’Aguiar, the leader of the other mini parties in APNU and the AFC refused to confront Granger on his unconstitutional moves, such as unilaterally appointing the Chair of GECOM. In fact, the leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, boasted that he had advised Granger to make the illegal appointment.
Another action disturbing D’Aguiar was the PNC’s insistence on employing only PNC members and not those best qualified for the job. D’Aguiar, who had built a large and successful business conglomerate, protested this was the surest way to ruin the country but to no avail. In the present, the PNC has not only reverted to this insidious practice, but its Chairperson openly boasted: “The only friends I got is PNC so the only people I gon give wuk to is PNC”. Sadly, the AFC did not denounce Lawrence’s statement but its Chair, Raphael Trotman, excused it on the grounds that it was “made in the aftermath of the hotly contested LGE” and he had “known and worked closely with (her) for 25 years and has never shown racial or political partisanship”.
It is, therefore, clear that the Guyanese people cannot expect a repetition of D’Aguiar’s principled stance from the AFC. On Monday, they will accept the PNC crumbs and support the coalition into the next elections. But all hope is not lost and was exemplified by the action of Cleveland Hamilton, Deputy Lord Mayor of Georgetown, and a strong supporter of the PNC in 1967. He denounced the PNC’s new ruling elite for the bigotry, corruption, nepotism and favouritism in high places. On bribery, he said: “It is all over the place, and is fast becoming a national scandal. . . . Every citizen’s position is in peril where he may not justly achieve what is bargained for, where he pays far more than he ought, and where even his rights may be delayed or even denied altogether. The harm done in any situation in which bribery, corruption, nepotism and favouritism assume national proportions and is a way of life from top-down, can never be calculated”.
Unfortunately, Hamilton’s stance was taken up by the ordinary supporters who bought the PNC’s argument that if they did not support its policies, the PPP would take office and would “enslave” them. And the dictatorship became entrenched and eventually consumed all. Granger is using the identical lie today and seems to be eliciting the same stolid response. However, by 1977, as the dictatorship deepened its draconian rule, over in Czechoslovakia where a totalitarian regime had been in place since the end of WWI, one playwright, Vaclav Havel, decided he would do what Hamilton had done: speak truth to power.
He said: “If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth”.
Let us follow Havel and refuse to live the PNC lie so that Guyana can become truly democratic with governments chosen on their performance.