This serves as a response to the letter “Lincoln Lewis continues to misrepresent the facts” by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Ms. Oneidge Walrond (KN, February 16, 2023). The headline of the letter is as misleading as the content of the minister’s letter.
The statements made by me about Bharrat Jagdeo’s discriminatory record as president are statements of facts. A mere denial of them does not change the facts. Launching into an attack and accusations does not debunk this statement and even Walrond has joined the band as a useful utensil, a mere tool, to front the PPP on matters she knows nothing about. It reinforces public concerns that African leaders in the Jagdeo/Ali regime are mere tools to camouflage the PPP indecency.
Let me so advise the minister, whether she considers my thoughts aligned or associated with the APNU-AFC, the Constitution of Guyana guarantees the right to free speech (Article 146), right to freedom of association (Article 147) and protection from discrimination regardless of which political party a person supports, race, etc (Article 149).
Mere alignment in thought with any political party does not simply or necessarily equal right or wrong. The minister should revisit her purpose in the PPP/C camp and her ability to accurately represent undisputable truths in our society.
To her statement I should “explain this cryptic assertion” that Jagdeo is “squatting on the people’s interest” let me repeat for her what was said in my letter of February 13, 2023 and for the benefit of those seeking the information.
Mark Phillips is Prime Minister and by virtue of his position he is constitutionally the First Vice President and Head of the Government Business in the National Assembly, yet he is not allowed to so function. Those who are unaware of these obligations would think Jagdeo is the First Vice President and allowed to be Head of Government Business in the National Assembly, but he is nothing more than usurper of constitutional office.
There is no need to prove Phillips does not function as the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly when it is well known. I stand by the statement Phillips “appears content to support the constitutional violation. It is not the first time the nation has seen this pattern of behaviour and only under the PPP.
The disrespect for Phillips is because he has the physical characteristics of a Black man, and the PPP continues to perpetuate the relegation to the African community, reinforcing that even when the constitution so ascribes and Africans stand to benefit, Jagdeo/Ali will take it upon themselves to deny. This has been their politics and practice over the years.
Jagdeo had two constitutional terms as president, presiding over the most brutal, bloody and corrupt government in post independent Guyana. As countless have asserted, both government and non-government supporters, President Irfaan Ali is the pawn of the evil one. Walrond should rethink her new status as pawn of the evil one. There is no honour fetching the chalice for the evil one, other than a place in hell, and the disrespect accompanying it.
On racialisation the minister should stand with Jagdeo in front of the mirror, and should she look into it she will see who epitomises this.
Let the minister tell this nation where the PPP has treated bauxite workers and sugar workers equally in the PPP post-Hoyte administration. Further, let the minister show the world where the Jagdeo government, which had sent home 4000 plus bauxite workers, thought about the village and town economies of Linden, Kwakwani, New Amsterdam and East Bank Berbice where these workers resided.
On the other hand, the world knows the PPP continues to inject billions of dollars in the ailing Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) on the pretext of saving the village economy of sugar workers. This can be validated from the Budgets and Hansards. I trust this minister should at least be able to do that research and return in the letter column to face the nation.
The minister is being a stranger to the truth or fetching chalice for the evil one, again, by coming before this nation and saying the workers’ proposal to buy out BERMINE was rejected. The workers were never so informed and let she who knows not that she knows not prove otherwise.
On the matter of yours truly stating the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo administration was prepared to go to arbitration with the Bauxite Company Guyana Inc (BCGI) I stand by my statement. Had the minister turned the pages of Stabroek News from February 8, 2020 to at least February 12, 2020 she would have read Senior Minister Amna Ally speaking to the issue saying “There are rules and laws that govern how we treat foreign companies and we are going to use those laws to address this.” The Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) was also engaging with the government consistent with the labour laws and industrial practices.
What the minister should tell the nation is why the government, which has become the spokesperson for, in representing the former disgraced president, has not moved to arbitration and has refused to move to resolve the anomaly in workers’ severance pay in spite of repeated letters to the Labour Minister and Chief Labour Officer. This shows the minister is not genuinely interested in the truth but furthering the divisive agenda of he who seeks to clean his record by using African fabric.
Let the minister provide to this nation where I have conflated the issues of union dues and collective bargaining and allege that support for the sugar industry allows GAWU to collect union dues and stay alive while the government does not engage in collective bargaining. What she has to research and learn is what I have been practicing for years.
The challenges some trade unions face with the Jagdeo and Ali regimes are not a matter of competence but the discriminatory treatment of the PPP where they are prepared to use state resources and trample on the law, agreements and universally acceptable principles in order to discriminate against some sections of the society.
I stand by my statement that Jagdeo has no moral authority to speak about good governance, discrimination, and the upholding of law in this country, and must therefore be reminded again that he is a political squatter in the National Assembly. And I thank the minister for presenting the opportunity to loudly and clearly state this again as I will do with every opportunity presented. Come again.
Jagdeo is a political squatter and should be treated the same way the PPP regime treated persons in Caneview/Mocha.
