Racism: Time Bomb Continues to Tick

Submitted by Pachamama (as a comment)

There is a political project being planned in Guyana by the Hindu-fascist PPP .of Jagdeo, aimed at covering up its racist conduct.

The PPP wants to dismiss 300 workers from the water authority,, the overwhelming majority of whom are Black.. They seek to replace them with Indians as they have a history of doing and have done since de rasssoul assholes in Caricom interfered in the elections to favour them.

To cover their apartheid policies the PPP is raising the spectre of Rodney as a distraction as they seek to combat complains about their behaviours, as made to the United Nations.

The argument to be made by the PPP is that the UN complaints are invalid because Walter Rodney, an Afro-Guyanese, is being lifted up. However, Black people in Guyana never had much love for Walter Rodney. They generally thought that he was an asshole, puffed up with a sense that he was the brightest man in the world.

Wrong on both counts.

As a youngster Walter Rodney was second to none in this writer”s estimation. However, his family is in no position to ask the PPP government of Guyana to rewrite the clear and true history of the circumstances surrounding his death.

The truth is settled knowledge. Rodney was trying to overthrow the government of Forbes Burnham and was plotting with a military man who was making a bomb with shrapnel intended to wreak substantial collateral damage.

Having arranged to test the bomb against the outer wall of the central prison complex it ended up in his, Rodney’s, lap and detonated, seemingly prematurely or at the betrayal of the military Confederates in this coup. Burnham had nothing to do with these events but currently this schema by the PPP could also cause a fissure within the opposition APNU coalition which comprises Burnham’s party and Rodney’s party.

About this plot to overthrow Burnham, Dr. David Hinds, a WPA member of Rodney’s party, at the time, spent years in jail and has since confirmed these events. Another senior member, of the WPA, we seem to remember his name as Roopnarine, we think, wrote a book detailing events much as we’ve tried to broadly outline.

This writer accepts the mantel of lacking hope in anything officialdom says to us. Doubled with experience of evaluating such plots, our central position is always to assume that everything is a fecking lie until proven otherwise.

David, your Caricom leaders, and the Caribbean, have no ideas about the demons they have let loose in Guyana. We trust that should the worse happen those same interfering misleaders will be military targets.

Circumstances Change; Values Shouldn’t

Life is a funny thing and politics particularly so.

At the end of WWII and at the dawn of internal self-government in the West Indies, the region was rather taken with the idea of a federation, uniting the British colonies. Noticeably absent from the ultimately ill-fated Federation was British Guiana. Cheddi Jagan and company felt that joining the Federation would lease their power to others in the Caribbean, who were black, which would, to them, be disadvantageous to and unpopular with Indo-Guyanese.

In the early 60s, bowing to American pressure to prevent another ‘Cuba’ in the Caribbean, the British contrived the proportional representation system for general elections, which resulted in the electoral weakening of the Marxist Jagan’s PPP, and allowing Forbes Burnham and his PNC to ascend to government, in the early years propped up by the conservative and American-supported d’Aguiar and his United Force.

The present political situation unfolding in Guyana, therefore, is pregnant with irony. Today, the PPP welcome, with open arms, the sentiment, judgements, and interventions by regional heads, courts and other prominent persons. Now, too, the Americans and British, among other international actors, are telling Burnham’s political progeny in the APNU+AFC that it is time to go, to make way for Jagan’s successors in the PPP/C.

Politics truly is a funny thing.

When I reflected upon these shifting political sands, I recalled the sentiment of our own Prime Minister Mottley in an interview with Canada’s CBC News. In defending Barbados’ support for Canada’s bid for the then-vacant temporary seat on the UN Security Council, she said that Barbados does not permanent friends, but we have permanent values. This recognizes that states, organizations and people change over time in character and complexion and that it is folly to bind yourself completely to an entity for eternity. Rather, your support for an individual or an entity should be predicated upon their adherence to important values. In my view, that is not only a sound guiding principle for foreign policy, but it would serve individuals well also.

It is regrettable, therefore, that some in Guyana and elsewhere in the region would support in one way or another the machinations of APNU. That support represents an abandonment of basic values of integrity and fairness. Let us be clear, in its fourth month, the Guyana electoral saga has absolutely nothing to do with party, policy or personality. The time to litigate whether the PPP or APNU would make a better government is long past. To discuss the racialisation of Guyanese politics or whether a PPP government would be good for Afro-Guyanese is undoubtedly irrelevant. The only relevant consideration at this late hour is the winner of the recount exercise, and there is a near-universal consensus that that is the PPP/C and that GECOM must be allowed finally to declare that incontrovertible fact.

Is the fact that the fraudsters look like you sufficient grounds to abandon your values, I wonder? A person is little more than a fallen leaf in the autumn without holding fast to certain basic mores. Prominent among those are the same integrity and fairness. Most of life is comprised of a great deal of uncertainty and ‘grey areas’. Sometimes, however, an incident is so clear that there can be no room for debate; there is only one correct reaction. In this instance, that is absolute abhorrence at what is being perpetrated by APNU and their sycophants.

Circumstances change as they clearly have done since the 1960s. Sometimes questionable motivations for some geopolitical manoeuvrings aside, what must not change is our individual commitment to guiding principles. Yesterday, the PPP might have been wrong and tomorrow they may be. However, today, it is APNU at fault and it is against that kind of anti-democratic despotism that we must all fight. Therein lies the broader lesson. No matter the rapid change in the direction of the winds, or the shifting sands of political positions or the changed tunes of various actors, in all of that ready chaos which life and politics serves up, if an individual holds firm to basic principles, you will always be on the right side of history, in the end.

Was the CCJ Wrong about Guyana?

The following pieces of documentation will be of interest to members of the BU family who are keenly following events unfolding in Guyana.
Was the CCJ wrong in its recent judgement?

Credit: Pachamama

gecom letter to CRO

Letter to Guyana’s Chief Election Officer from GECOM and his replyOffice of CEOoffice of ceo 2

Owen Arthur Slammed for Comments on Guyana Elections Results

Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

Owen_Arthur

Former Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur, Chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Mission

On Thursday Mr. Clairmont Mingo, the Returning officer of Election District 4 – Demerara/Mahaica, declared the much anticipated election results for his District. The results established that incumbent APNU+AFC coalition won the March 2, 2020 general elections. Earlier in the day the opposition PPP released a document with purported results showing a PPP victory, bearing inflated votes for that party in  polling stations within Region/District 4. Upon closer examination, the document was dated February 29, 2020, an indication that it was generated in some form two days before the March 2, 2020 elections. When citizens began questioning the date of the document on social media, it was pulled and the date changed to March 5, 2020 and republished.  

Screenshot 2020-03-06 at 17.50.12

The declaration had been previously disrupted multiple times by a mob of PPP executives and other known street thugs who, armed with guns, under the cover of dark night stormed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) District 4 office demanding access to GECOM’s computer equipment. Later in the day said individuals kicked down the door to the Chairman of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), Justice Claudette Singh. The presence of violated the Laws of Guyana Chapter 1:03 (91). CGID is appalled that the Guyana Police Force allowed this invasion of GECOM’s office to occur. Overseas observers have failed to condemn this hooliganism and lawlessness from the PPP. Some observers, including James Carter III from the Carter Center, appear to be coordinating with the PPP.    

In response to the District 4 declaration, Mr. Owen Arthur, former Prime Minister of Barbados, who is Chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Mission falsely stated that the “tabulation of the final election results has not yet been completed and verified according to the established procedures and relevant legal and statutory provisions.” Mr. Arthur is obviously uninformed of the laws of Guyana and the constitutional powers of GECOM. This statement is consistent with PPP talking point.  CGID questions Mr. Arthur’s objectivity. He is a longtime associate of Bharrat Jagdeo who should never have been accredited by the Commonwealth.

Mr. Arthur and his team cannot dictate to GECOM or interfere with its work. He and his team are departing from an observer mission to intruding and interfering in Guyana’s electoral process in favor of the PPP. Guyana’s elections laws mandate a specific procedure for challenging actions and declarations of GECOM. That process does not entail complaints to and coercive missives from observers. It requires the filing of an elections petition in the court.

CGID notes that in 1997 the PPP government used the exact process to declare the elections results. In that election, then PPP hacks at GECOM secretly declared and certified the PPP winner, and secretly swore in Mrs. Janet Jagan as President. When a marshal of the Supreme Court attempted to serve Mrs. Jagan with an injunction from then Chief Justice Desiree Bernard, Mrs. Jagan threw the court order to the ground and proceeded to be sworn in. PPP leaders, including Bharrat Jagdeo, argued then that the courts cannot interfere with GECOM and its processes.

CGID therefore asks, if GECOM in 1997 could have declared results in favor of the PPP without a specific public verification procedure, what prevents GECOM from doing so in 2020? If the courts had no power to interfere in GECOM processes in 1997, why the PPP is seeking the intervention of the court in GECOM’s processes in 2020.

Calls for Investigation into Election Violence in Guyana

Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

On Election Day, Monday, March 2, 2020, operatives of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) allegedly attempted to commit election fraud and violence. This attempt to engender destabilization was foiled. Moreover, twelve PPP mercenaries were arrested in the Alberttwown, Georgetown near polling stations at the St. Ambrose Primary School.

Guyana Police Force has confirmed receiving reports that the men allegedly colluded with an agent of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to steal Statements of Poll (SOP) from polling stations at St. Amborose Primary School. A SOP is the official record which states total votes cast in favor of the parties contesting the election.In the 1997 election, PPP agents were accused of changing vote tallies on SOPs. This triggered an international Commission of Inquiry. The 1997 elections results were subsequently vitiated due to constitutional breaches by then Supreme Court Justice Claudette Singh, who now heads the Elections Commission.

The men were caught with guns, ammunition and bulletproof vests, and were traveling in vehicles with fake license plates. The arms, ammunition and a vehicle were seized by Police. PPP agents accosted, harassed and intimidated voters in some areas. They allegedly followed voters, took their photographs and video taped their movement to and from polling stations. These are known voter suppression tactics. The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) condemns these illegal acts and calls for a comprehensive, criminal investigation of PPP’s Election Day activities.

Surveillance video captured the twelve men, who Police detained, at different times in the company of senior PPP officials on Monday in the vicinity of polling stations around Georgetown.  This development is worrisome and reminiscent of the past. On April 9, 2001, eyewitnesses informed Police that they saw a security personnel located at the top floor, rear exit of Freedom House, the PPP’s Robb Street, Georgetown, headquarters, fire into a crowd of protesters, killing 43 year-old Donna McKinnon. No one was charged for McKinnon’s murder.

Meanwhile, Guyanese law enforcement and Immigration officials Monday allegedly detained and deported Brent Kartcher, a 73 year old Texas oil executive, Libyan national Marwan Al-Ayed and Vadim Kyrillov from Austria. The trio arrived in Guyana last Saturday in a private jet. They were taken into custody at the Georgetown Marriott Hotel where several PPP operative and expatriates have been frequenting for meetings.

CGID appeals for calm in the face of obvious incitement of violence and calls on the Guyana Police Force to take swift action against breaches of the peace, security and the law.

Guyana, Spawned by Racism

Rickford_burke

Commentary by Rickford Burke

What has the PPP done for Guyana other than spawn racism, civil war, decadence, carnage, corruption, death squads, a narco-state and Roger Khan? 
The PPP was formed in 1950. The party won the elections in 1953 during British rule but was promptly removed from office by the British  government because of its radical, communist ideology and bad governance. Elections were held again in 1957. The PPP won. Shortly thereafter the party experienced a racial split.  Afro-Guyanese accused PPP leaders of neglecting their interests and left the party. The PPP narrowly won the subsequent 1961 elections. However, its racist and discriminatory politics led to racial violence and civil war in Guyana. This is know as the 1964 disturbances or civil war. The party lost the 1964 elections to a coalition of the People’s National Congress and United Force.
After a 28 year hiatus or banishment in the political wilderness, the PPP won the 1992 elections. Again racial tensions and violence ensued because of the PPP’s doctrine of racial triumphalism. Crime and corruption plagued Guyana. The PPP government was involved with death squads. A United Nations investigation verified that they were complicit with the murder of over 400 Afro-Guyanese citizens. The international community estimated that Bharrat Jagdeo’s PPP regime stole over US$20 billion from the treasury. International corruption watchdog, Transparency International, ranked Jagdeo’s PPP regime as one of the most corrupt governments in the world.
The PPP government became ensconced with drug lords including Roger Khan and murder for hire drug gangs. They enabled Khan and his gangs to import drugs from Columbia, Venezuela and other parts of South America, which they shipped to the United States, Europe and the Caribbean with impunity and assistance from PPP government officials. Just like that, the PPP turned Guyana in a narco-state and international drug transshipment center. Functionally the PPP drove Guyana into failed statehood.
Amidst this crescendo of decadence, carnage and national implosion, Bharrat Jagdeo and his PPP government were working give away part of Essequibo to Venezuela to settle the border dispute. We are still to find out if they were to derive financial gain from this give away of our country to our enemy. The nation gasped and breathed a collective sigh of relief and elation when the people voted the PPP out of government on May 11, 2015, and bit them good riddance!
The most objective of analysts will conclude, as is patently obvious, that historically, every instance of PPP governance of Guyana has been catastrophic for our nation. From radical communist policies that led to its expulsion from office, apartheid, racism and civil war; to torture and genocide against blacks, monumental corruption and state capture,  destruction  and conversion of Guyana to a narco-state and eventually failed statehood. All the PPP has left is its tattered, sordid history of atrocities and murder, corruption and destruction.
I challenge anyone to examine Guyana’s contemporary history and inform the Guyanese people what the PPP has done to advance Guyana’s development; particularly during its last 23 years in government. Its single accomplishment is building the Berbice River Bridge, with a 1940s design. They structured this bridge project expressly to curtail commerce in New Amsterdam for the benefit of its ethnic base on the Corentyne. They had the audacity to construct this bridge with money from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pension funds of hard working Guyanese taxpayers, but which they disguised as private investment. This criminal rape and a rip-off of hard working Guyanese could have only been perfected by con artists at Freedom House.  It is no wonder, therefore, that the PPP presidential in on trail for 19 fraud charges in connection with another fraud scheme.
Pregnant with unrestrained avarice and greed, the Freedom House mafia is now acting like a bull in a China shop to once again corruptly wrest the governance of our country away from the people. They are desperate to get their dirty hands on Guyana’s oil money. We Guyanese; especially our youth, must build a resistance. Stop these thieves from grabbing our oil money. Repel this evil force that spits fires of hate, bigotry and destruction. Resist this same evil force that drove our nation into civil war in 1963. Every youth, who wants to Guyana develop and not destroyed, must join the resistance against the evil PPP.
We must be organized to win. This is why everyone must register and everyone must vote. Voting is the weapon an indomitable generation used to defeat the evil force that caused the 1964 civil war. Voting is the weapon we used to defeat this evil force in 2015.  Voting must be our weapon of choice to defeat the PPP in 2020. The resistance begins anew. Rise up and register. Rise up and vote. Our lives, our country depend on it!

Crime Will Destabilize Guyana if Modern Laws and Crime Fighting Measures are not Implemented Soon

Press Release submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

NEW YORK: The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) is concerned about the inability of Guyana’s law enforcement authorities to arrest violent crime. Murders, shootings, armed robberies; domestic violence, rape, car-jacking, felonious assaults and other serious crimes are pervasive.  Sections of the population live in fear. Guyanese abroad fear being robbed when visiting Guyana. Pervasive violent crime prompted the US State Department on November 25, 2017, to warn US citizens to “Exercise increased caution in Guyana due to crime. Violent crime, such as armed robbery and murder, is common.  Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.”

The brazen robbery and shooting to death of America Street money-changer, Shawn Nurse (aka “Fabulous”), on the morning of Sunday, February 4, 2018, while doing business in the busy Georgetown commercial district, and other murders, demonstrate that criminals are unafraid to strike at any time. Their bravery is driven by an insufficient deployment of security assets in strategic areas of Guyana.   Daily press reports of overseas visitors or senior citizens, business owners and ordinary citizens being robbed at gunpoint and/or killed are damaging to Guyana’s image. It will also hinder Guyana’s nascent ecotourism industry and deters foreign investment.

Currently, residents in the hinterland/forest communities are being terrorized by the murderous, Venezuelan gang, ‘Sindicato’.  Villagers, gold miners and business owners in Hosororo, White Water and communities in the Amakuru River, in Region One, and Arau, Mango Landing and surrounding Amerindian communities in Region Seven, have detailed ordeals of Venezuelan gang members crossing the border into Guyana unrestricted. They engage in shoot-outs, demand taxes, cash, gold, house hold items and store inventories, with impunity.

The gang has ostensibly slaughtered several Guyanese miners working in border areas in Venezuela. In January, they reportedly beheaded a young Guyanese miner. The killing was photographed, videotaped and allegedly released on social media. To date the Guyana government has not announced an investigation of these murders or warned Guyanese about the dangers of crossing the border. Residents report no increased security or capture of gang members to restore public safety.  The borders remain, open, lawless and dangerous.

In an interview today with veteran Caribbean journalist, Tony Best, CGID President Rickford Burke, said crime fighting measures by the coalition government have been inadequate or ineffective. He added that for a government that is dominated by former security officials, its dismal record on security as well as the lack of accountability for the numerous public safety failures, is astounding and unfortunate. Burke said that “while the Guyanese society is advancing, the nation’s security infrastructure; including laws, assets, resources and the criminal justice system, remained relatively stagnant and antiquated.” He posited that “these are challenging times for Guyana. High levels of crime and the Venezuela border dispute pose significant threats to stability and national security. Simultaneous with these threats to national security is increased world focus on Guyana. Our international profile has been elevated because of imminent oil production. Hence, while the border issue is being addressed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the government needs to aggressively tackle crime which has had a destabilizing effect.”

“Apart from recruiting, training and deploying thousands more law enforcement and defense officers, the government also needs to acquire about 1000% additional security resources and assets. The national treasury cannot be the only funding source for such acquisitions. The government has to be able to mobilize resources from the international community and sympathetic countries. Our diplomats around the world should be tasked with this responsibility,” the CGID head said.

He also called for Guyana’s criminal codes to be updated and existing penalties severely toughened to protect the nation from modern crimes and new criminal techniques. “Security services must dramatically increase patrols on the border and coastal waterways; as well as in the city and other population centers throughout the country. These and other measures will give citizens confidence that the government is competent and deserving of their support,” Burke asserted.

–END–

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT: Richard Millington, Director of Communications

Email: caribbeaninstitute@gmail.com

Guyana, the NEW Frontier

Submitted by The Mahogany Coconut Group

A decade ago, many Guyanese living in the Diaspora, would have been negative about returning home. They feared mostly the racial and political tensions. Some sought to live in other Caribbean islands and were often accused of accepting lower wages than the workers in those countries. In many ways, Guyana had become the butt of many “island jokes” about its weak currency and shortage of consumer goods, taken for granted throughout the region.

Those travelling to Guyana on vacations and business often were amazed that Guyanese themselves, were so negative about such a bountiful land with natural resources not found in any other country in the region. They also marvelled at the gracious manner of the Guyanese people, even in the toughest of times. The Guyanese are known for their excellent cuisine and their incredible crafts people. They have long established themselves as intellectual giants in the region, by having Caribbean thinkers such as Walter Rodney. On the cricket field they can claim such icons as Clive Lloyd and Lance Gibbs among others. In both the pre-and post-independence eras, they have given the region politicians such as Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, whose political battles are still studied by engaging university students and political historians.

Ironically, it was these battles that eventually burst the socio-economic seams of Guyana and threw it into a social, economic and political turmoil for over three decades, causing the migration of thousands of citizens, seeking stability elsewhere. This movement resulted in some of its better educated and skilled citizens causing a technical and academic brain drain, that is now hopefully being impeded by a more settled political environment and recent discoveries of oil and other resources, that most observers believe, will push Guyana to the top of the CARICOM “best” off countries, in the very near future.

It is widely known that even during the very testing period, there was considerable trading between Guyanese and other Caribbean business persons. These small business persons traded in: gold, fisheries lumber and fruits. Pine apples, shrimp and green heart wood and buildings(houses) were often imported from Guyana and the quality of these products guaranteed them a ready market. Guyanese are therefore considered to be extremely skilful business people and this talent to survive during the now fading tough period, will be most useful as their country continues to improve. It was a classical example of Caribbean people’s resourcefulness despite the failings of the floundering collective political managerial class.

We therefore welcome the changing fortunes of this magnificent country. With most other economies gasping for air and many heading to international loan sharks such as the IMF, Guyana may be the only real frontier for those who want to remain in the region. At the 1986 CARICOM Heads of Government Conference Errol Barrow declared that, “We are a family of islands nestling closely under the shelter of the great Cooperative Republic of Guyana. And this fact of regional togetherness is lived everyday by ordinary West Indian men and women.”

His words might just be proven more profound than he ever imagined.

William Skinner, Communication Officer, Mahogany Coconut Group. 1/16/18

Romotar Led PPP/C Booted Out of Office

David Granger - Guyana's President elect

David Granger – Guyana’s President elect

Regional politicians were quick to call on former Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis to jump ship when the results were obviously being suppressed. Did we hear a similar clamour directed at Romotar in the wake of the confusion in Guyana? The Caricom Secretariat is located in Georgetown for those who look to symbolic arguments.

Based on the latest news coming out of Guyana the National Unity and Alliance for Change Coalition (APNU+AFC) edged the Romotar led PPP/C by 5,493 votes and therefore ended 23 years in office.

We pray for sanity to take root.

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Team Guyana USA Soccer League Urges Guyanese Soccer Players and Fans to Boycott Caribbean Cup Inc, Soccer Tournaments

Submitted by the GUYANA USA SOCCER LEAGUE INC

BROOKLYN: Team Guyana USA Soccer League announces its complete withdrawal from Caribbean Cup Inc., (CCI) as well as from its tournaments, structure and activities. This action is in protest of overt discrimination against, and abuse of, Guyanese players and management. Team Guyana will no longer participate in CCI’s annual soccer tournaments at the Thomas Jefferson High School Field at Flatlands Avenue and Essex Street, Brooklyn.

Consequently, we call on all Guyanese soccer players and fans to, henceforth, boycott all Caribbean Cup tournaments and games, until another transparent, fair and professional tournament is established, which the League can sanction.

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Guyanese anti-PPP Government Activist Courtney Crum-Ewing Assassinated

Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

Courtney Crum-Ewing

Courtney Crum-Ewing

NEW YORK: The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) condemns the assassination of well known Guyanese anti-PPP government activist, former Guyana Defense Force Officer Courtney Crum-Ewing, while campaign against Guyana’s ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

CGID expresses outrage at the unrelenting killing, with impunity, of PPP opponents, solely because of their anti-government activism. Almost all of these murders are unsolved. The refusal of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to seriously investigate these murders is a repudiation of justice and a mockery of the rule of law.

Mr. Crum-Ewing’s assassination is reminiscent of the assassination of journalist Ronald Waddell, who was killed by a death squad allegedly operated by then PPP Cabinet Minister Ronald Gajraj and Roger Khan – now convicted and imprisoned in the United States.

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Afro-Guyanese Blocked by PPP from being Elected President

Submitted by Rickford Burke
Bisram’s diatribe amplifies the PPP’s tactics to block an Afro-Guyanese from being elected President

Vishnu Bisram, a Queens based pseudo pollster, in a letter published in the Guyana Times on March 1, 2015, alleged that I’m a racist because I established that his party – the PPP, traditionally practices racism against Afro-Guyanese but pretends to love us at election time.  If he thinks that condemning the PPP’s oppression of black people in Guyana makes me a racist, then so be it. I wear that label as a badge of honor.

Bisram said my assertion that when President Cheddie Jagan died, Prime Minister Sam Hinds, an Afro-Guyanese, was eviscerated to allow a none-black to take over the presidency, is a fabrication.  He also claimed that Mrs. Harper’s selection as the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate demonstrates the PPP’s “multiracial politics.”

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Guyana’s PPP Selects Afro-Guyanese Elizabeth Harper as a Candidate in Upcoming General Elections

Submitted by Rickford Burke, PRESIDENT CARIBBEAN GUYANA INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY (CGID)

Elizabeth Harper

Elizabeth Harper

Selection of Elisabeth Harper cannot conceal racism and corruption in the PPP’s DNA

Guyana’s ruling People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) seems to have come down with schizophrenia over the merger of Guyana’s two main opposition parties, the APNU and AFC, and is in panic.  The two opposition parties formed a coalition and will contest the May 11, 2015 general elections as a single party.

The PPP’s panic is not misplaced. The coalition portends an end of the racist and corrupt PPP regime. Combined, the APNU and AFC garnered a majority of votes in the last general elections held in 2011.  Consequently they captured control of the Parliament, rendering the PPP a minority government.

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Nigel Hughes Ideal Man to Lead Coalition Against PPP

Submitted by Rickford Burke

The Guyanese nation now ponders the election of a new leader and government to chart a new course for our country.

Our nation needs a rebirth. It has been perennially plagued by racial strife; social and economic stagnation; morally and intellectually bankrupt governance; abject criminality; unparalleled PPP corruption and political decay.

Now is the time to unshackle our country from the morass engendered by the discredited PPP leadership.

To accomplish this, we need a new leader with a bold new vision to transform our society and inspire the current generation of young Guyanese, who long for advancement, prosperity and a better way of life. We need a new leader who can unleash our developmental potential and propel the nation toward the path of modernity.

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Guyana: A Promise of Elections

Guyana Trades Union Congress, Press Statement (December 7, 2014)

Romotar

President Romotar

The GTUC calls on political parties, civil society and every Guyanese to hold President Ramotar accountable for respecting the nation’s institutions and the will of the people.

The problem that confronts Guyana is good governance. The manner in which Parliament has been prorogued and the continuation of this proclamation on the promise that elections will be held next year is a reflection that the Executive has no regard for Constitution and the will of the people.

What President Ramotar has done by saying to the nation that there will be elections next year must be seen as a deceptive act to remove the pressure on him to lift the prorogation. The offer for elections does not absolve the President from the violation of the spirit and intent of the Constitution in his application of prorogation Article 70 (1).

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