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Aug 24, 2002: Throughout the ages, people have always advised each other that if you live in a glass house do not throw stones. There is another way of putting this wise statement. If you are guilty of misconduct, then shut your mouth when the topic of misconduct is being discussed.
Earlier this month, Minister Henry Jeffrey called a meeting of the civic component of the PPP/C party. The meeting was originally planned to take place in Bee Hive. At sudden notice, the venue was shifted to Vic Insannally's place. Apparently, THE CIVICS want to form a separate party with its own executive with Minister Jeffrey as its leader. Forgive me for being emotional, but with who as leader? Henry Jeffrey? Mr. Jeffrey was a discard of both Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte, then was adopted by the PPP. The same PPP that says it is a better party than the PNC. Anyway, Minister Jeffrey presented a paper " NORMAL POLITICS IN GUYANA" and circulated it for discussion. The paper did not go down well, and after the session was over, Minister Jeffrey requested that the paper be returned.
Three CIVIC members refused. And they had every right to for two reasons. First, as a matter of principle - if Minister Jeffrey is putting forward a political theory of change in Guyana, then he must have the courage to say it is his ideas. I have the paper and I don't see anything confidential in it. It is in fact a mediocre piece of analysis that has been plagiaristically pulled from the writings many of us who have been advocating the politics of accommodation. In fact, WPA documents must have been sourced heavily by Minister Jeffrey when he composed his analysis. Secondly, (and this is a fact) the essay was circulated to other people other than persons connected with the PPP/C and the Guyana Government at the time when it was submitted to the Insannaly meeting. Now this may not have been by Jeffrey himself but it was in the possession of others. I got it from someone who got it from an activist of the PNC/R. So secondly, the three members had a right to refuse because others not connected to the PPP/C had the paper. I have the paper and I am quite prepared to share it with others. Please contact me at this newspaper.
Now what is Minister Jeffrey saying in this essay? Well, you don't want to know because we all say it all the time. It goes like this - Guyana is politically and ethnically divided, and one party cannot rule Guyana because that party hasn't got the political and intellectual resources to go it alone. Now is the time to move to more inclusive politics and a start can be made by reforming parliament to give the opposition a greater say in the evolution of the Guyanese political economy. Yes, you are right. You have seen and heard that appeal from so many quarters so many times, all the time. In fact, PPP maverick, Khemraj Ramjattan says that all the time to his PPP colleagues. So Henry Jeffrey is a latecomer, I guess like his partner, Odinga Lumumba of which more will be said when I write on what is going on in a certain city in the USA.
So what was the fuss about this paper that caused many CIVIC members to get angry with it? Well it is not so much the Jeffrey thesis that got people mad, it was the man Jeffrey himself. As you read his paper, Jeffrey pulls himself out of Guyanese politics, makes himself a saint, then proceeds to give us advice as to how to change a system that he Jeffrey helped to bring about, that he Jeffrey continues to benefit from. Let me quote from this self-righteous, pretentious document. He says on page two: " For at least half a century normal politics has not existed in Guyana, from 1964 to 19992 and 1992 to date." But Jeffrey has been part of the Burnham regime. Then he fell out with Hoyte. Then for the past ten years, he has been part of the PPP/C regime. Well, come on man, if from 1964 to the present time, we haven't had normal politics in Guyana, then where was the mouth and pen of Jeffrey all this time?
Henry Jeffrey should be made to understand that there is a moral obligation humans have to humanity to speak out against wrongs and not to participate in it. At the moment, the British cabinet is bitterly divided over the intended British invasion of Iraq. Some ministers feel that international law and international morality do not permit the UK to invade Iraq and they demanding that the UK distance itself from American intentions. Colin Powell earns the respect of a lot of people in the world because he is seen as the only cabinet member of the America government that argues against the war tones that characterizes the Bush government.
In his paper, Jeffey has a section that tells the reader what is the meaning of normal politics. He lists four factors that must be present. But none of them includes the existence of a strong voice among civil society that speaks out against the wrong direction a society is taking. I am putting it to Minister Jeffrey that for there to be normal politics, there must be strong, courageous individuals, well learned, well-intentioned, morally disposed to denounce the ills of power, and advocate the humanism of government. It is because of the presence of such a type of civilization, the world is a better place than it was five hundred years ago. It is for this reason, Guyana is a better place than under the administration of Forbes Burnham, a regime that Jeffrey once served and to date has not written about.
It is for this reason, this society is not falling down to worse levels of degradation. In the PNC, there is Raphael Trotman. When Robert Corbin was in a destructive mood, Trotman wasn't born. But look how close he came to toppling Corbin for the PNC's chairmanship. Khemraj Ramjattan took on the entire PPP leadership yet won a seat on the central committee of that party. Why in these circumstances these men were not ostracized? Because the human being respect a leader who sides with humanity, who sides on behalf of truth and justice. Then there is David Hinds. When David was put in jail for three years by the Burnham regime. Minister Jeffrey was part of that oligarchy. David Hinds is still preaching the politics of change. Trotman, Ramjattan and Hinds are some of the saints of Guyanese politics not Henry Jeffrey. I leave you with something that is puzzling me. Why did he ask back for the paper?