Dear Editor,
As I received the news of the MV Barima tragedy where dozens of Guyanese lost their lives due to the criminal negligence of the PPP government, and remained continually bombarded by the meaningless platitudes of condolences and promises of ensuring justice for the bereaved families and all Guyana, I cannot but be forcefully reminded that none of this new to every family who has ever suffered injustice at the hands of this authoritarian PPP government.
Some twenty five years ago to the day, three innocent young men were summarily executed by a unit of the infamous black clothes police, led by then Asst. Supt of Police Steve Merai, on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, Guyana! Amongst them was my son, Antoine Houston!
A public outcry, including the intervention of the Political Opposition (the PNC) and international Human Rights bodies, led to the holding of a coroner’s inquest into these extrajudicial killings. The Coroner, Chief Magistrate Holder-Allen, had hardly begun her work when she was from the Magistracy removed on some flimsy pretext, and the matter was ‘put down” sine die.
This Inquest did not see the light of day for another 10 years when a new Magistrate assigned its responsibility brought it to an unresolved conclusion because of the Police failure and reluctance to provide any additional information on the circumstances of the murders, and to provide the witnesses to the murders who they no longer pursued or engaged to give their evidence.
The details/particulars of this infamy I have previously addressed elsewhere, and will not return to them today, except to say, ‘justice denied, is simply justice denied’!
Today, 25 years after that tragedy, Guyana has not moved away further from these abuses of a corrupt, discriminatory, and bloody government, or has it moved any way closer to the justice its citizens deserve for the continued atrocities imposed upon them daily by an uncaring, cruel and inhumane government.
The PPP dictatorship, led by the same powerful barons ( Jagdeo, et.al)remains firmly entrenched in the seat of political ( and astronomical economic) power, whilst the people maintain a cacophony of meaningless noise the PPP cabal curate and permit them.
Martin Carter, our poet Laureate, noted with some sympathy that, “In the premises of the tongue dwells the anarchy of the ear…And would shout it out differently if it could be sounded plain, but a mouth is always muzzled by the food it eats to live”!
Martin Carter’s “ dark time” is with us.
“It is the season of oppression, dark metal, and tears.
It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.
Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious’.”
But, those ‘who come(s) walking in the dark night time, whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass, this ‘man of death, is no strange invader!
This time, “Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream”, it is our old and familiar nemesis- the Ali/Jagdeo led PPP dictatorship!
I have been taught the law, and have held firm to those principles, values, aphorisms, etc that affirm that Justice or the fight for Justice never truly ends (John Lewis. US Congressman), yet, after 25 years and counting, many of those beliefs I have had to place, understandably, under careful scrutiny and re-examination. I am reminded, however, that in our modern political history, many of our citizens, like the protagonists in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’, have endured, much longer than I, since the PPP’s ascension to political office in 1992! Moreover,
I cannot but acknowledge that it took black Africans forced into slavery some 250 years to regain their physical liberties and to remove the shackles of slavery from their bodies and lives, and to embrace anew their political and other freedoms. There is still, therefore, hope – for me, my family…and the rest of my suffering but silent countrymen, I have concluded.
Finally, I must say I find comfort in these words of Mahatma Gandhi, one of India’s greatest modern icons:“ When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall… think of it, always.”
- This note is not a memory but a reaffirmation that justice will prevail! That, ‘“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.’ — Benjamin Franklin.
- “There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win” (Howard Zinn).
- The people are the motive force in society. Only through our collective action could we achieve the goals of social justice and change we seek. Justice will prevail…
This I do believe!
Yours truly,
Lawrence Houston
