Give Him A Blackman Name

Give Him A Blackman Name

In all three of Guyana newspapers recently, a letter was written in support of the PPP in response to an analysis of mine on the treatment of the WPA by the PPP since the PPP took power in 1992. The letter was signed by William Thom whose name never appeared in the newspapers before and who is definitely not known. Hundreds and hundreds of letters defending the PPP government have been published in the print media and hundreds more are to come. But apart from defending the government, these mountains of letters have another thing in common all the writers have Christian names which indicate that they are composed by African Guyanese.
The truth of the matter is that these defenses are conducted at Freedom House and are drafted by leading PPP cadres. They write on complex pages of history and offer detailed analysis of political complexities which tell the reader that these things that could only be done by the PPP leaders themselves. Yet they sign all types of mundane names Jones, White, Brown, Smith, etc. But nobody knows these characters. Take Oliver Sam. He would fire off at Ravi Dev all the time. Sam knows everything about the PPP's history yet the register of voters reveals that there is no one by the name Oliver Sam. We come now to the solution of the puzzle.
In Guyana, the PNC is looked upon as an African-Guyanese party, the PPP as East Indian, and by extension an Indian government. The PPP is sincerely unhappy at that perception and would like to do something about it. And they do something about it but it is a foolish something. They write a large amount of letters to the press, pen African names to them, and they believe it gives the government credibility because Afro-Guyanese support a PPP government. This stratagem is a failure, it is unworkable. Why not do the real and right thing. Get credible African-Guyanese to write the letters themelves.
It is a downright shame that after eight years in office, the PPP government cannot get decent, educated, respected, talented and credible African Guyanese who are not Freedom House limers but who can feel supportive of the PPP to write a letter in praise of the PPP government and put his her name to it. Burnham would have done it. Burnham in fact did it. The PNC under Hoyte is doing it at the moment. There are East Indian people who are not Congress Place operatives, who defend Desmond Hoyte in the press.
It looks like educated Afro-Guyanese who are close to the PPP do not like the PPP government enough to want to defend it publicly. Look what happened during the post-election period with Waddel and Benschop. While these two commentators were hitting away at the PPP government accusing them of anti-African hatred, the government had no Afro-Guyanese who could have replied to them. In fact, while Waddel and Benschop were on a rampage, Henry Jeffrey had an ongoing exchange in the Stabroek News with Clarence Ellis on issues unrelated to what was taking place on Channel 9. To date, no Afro-Guyanese who is in the PPP or the PPP government ever spoke to African Guyanese and tell them that Waddel and Benschop were wrong in their facts. And here I am not talking about the traditional PPP like Rohee, Collymore and Luncheon.
Where was/is Brindley Benn when Channel 9 was on the warpath? Here is an anti-Jaganite personality who the PPP took and rehabilitated. Why couldn't he write the letter instead of William Thom? Where was/is Brindney Benn's son, Robeson Benn, who the PPP took and made into a parliamentarian then Chairman of GEOLOGY AND MINES? Why can he write the letters that the fictional Oliver Sam writes? Where was/is the darling of Freedom House, James Rose who the PPP took and made Vice-Chancellor of the University when just a couple of years before he stood at UG in front of a large audience, pointed to Moses Nagaamootoo and told him the PPP government has a list of PNC people they want to fire at UG. Why can't he write some letters and use his real name?
What about Ms. June Ward? Can't she write some letters praising the PPP government and sign her name? She looks like a typical citizen from the African continent. She has a continental African hair-style and she normally dons African fashion, the type Sister Adiola James wears at UG. She is extremely powerful in the Government of Guyana and is very close to Mrs. Jagan and Roger Luncheon. Together with Henry Jeffrey, Odinga Lumumba, and Robeson Benn, they form a group that champions a role for African Guyanese in the Government. People like Madan Rambarran of the Georgetown Hospital, Martin Goolsarran of GTV and Leslie Ramsammy among others have felt the pervasive power of this woman. Yet to date, she has never made a public statement in support of the PPP and the government it heads. She was invisible during the reign of Waddel and Benschop.
Kit Nascimento didn't come on strong enough in his advice to the PPP during the time channel 9 was in acceleration. A good PR stunt was to put June Ward on GTV and get her to reply to Waddel and Benschop word for word. If that had happened then maybe some regent Street stores would have still been standing. Why did it not happened? Three theories come up. Nascimento didn't propose it. Nascimento proposed it but Ward refused. And Thirdly, Nascimento propsed it, Ward agreed but Martin Goolsarran has not forgiven Ward when she was on the GTV board so he was the one to refused. I don't think Martin was not the one who pulled the plug.
Anyway, my opinion, is that the African Guyanese who are close to the PPP do not want to touch the PPP with a ten inch pole when it comes to defending the PPP government publicly; they just want to do their technical task quietly. If not, then how do you explain the deluge of letters signed by fictitious non-Indian names all the time? Can't the PPP see this thing has a sordid side to it?