Georgetown: The Guyana Trades Unions Congress (GTUC) is calling on President Donald Ramotar as Commander-in-Chief to muzzle former President Bharrat Jagdeo who is acting as a rabid attack dog.
The organization in a press release stated the following:
“His statement made at Albion rally that “When [the opposition alliance] link up with the military and come into your homes and start kicking the doors down and when they come after you, who is going to be there…? is the crudest form of Machiavellian politics to demonise and criminalise Guyanese military.
This nation should learn from the lessons of Rwanda and Bosnia, where the minds of people through linguistic dehumanisation were goaded to hate and destroy the other, which led to civil wars and genocide. The lesson learnt from those societies is that if the problem of intolerance was nipped in the bud the catastrophes could have been avoided. Guyana has a history of and the potential for racial conflict, which as a people we should collectively seek to reduce rather than nurture and escalate. And given the experience of Rwanda and Bosnia the people suffer and only the bloodthirsty/self-serving leaders gain.
If on a public platform with thousands of people in attendance, the former president and former commander-in-chief can make such dangerous, irresponsible statement it is fair/easy to assume that covert actions are occurring simultaneously or in the pipeline to support the environment of fear that is being created.
President Ramotar must take responsibility if he is his own man and is going to be his own president for unleashing this reckless torrent of attack on Guyanese workers, more particularly the military that secures our peace and his presidency. President Ramotar must call off Jagdeo, who is acting as the attack dog and posing a threat to the stability of our nation and the peace among its people.
Never in the history of Guyanese politics, as GTUC can recall, was such dangerous statement being made public. Whereas there have been claims of bottom house campaign of this nature what we are seeing here is evidence of what the PPP under Ramotar and Jagdeo is capable of. When fear of threatening, violent and deadly nature is evoked or is planted in the minds of thousands the expectation is a rally to arms, a rally to desperation to either attack the perceived enemy or to perceive any attack of the enemy as a threat worthy of violent response.
Former president Jagdeo is laying the groundwork for race/ethnic/civil war in Guyana, using the innocent and trusting people who support the PPP as pawns. The potential of this unfolding psychological conditioning of PPP supporters to see evil and do evil is of the making of a desperate despot. 49 years after independence, 45 years after republican status and 23 years after the PPP in government, Guyanese should be elevating their politics to division on issues not division on violence, racial and military fears. This is not progressive politics; this is the unleashing of evil. This is mad politics, mad leadership.
It is clear that even with the evidence of military workers serving Guyana diligently and with distinction and one of whom is playing a leading role in these elections (Chief Elections Officer ret. Major Keith Lowenfield) it is lunacy on Jagdeo’s part in attempting to insult the intelligence of PPP supporters, the people of Berbice and Guyana.
GTUC calls on all Guyanese to reject the lunacy of Jagdeo. GTUC calls on Guyanese of all ethnic origins to embrace each other as one, for our destiny, our safety, our development, our collective survival lies in respecting each other, working with each other in an environment that is not charged with fear and suspicion, more so when those who are responsible in societies throughout the world for keeping that peace, ensuring law and order, protection of citizens are being undermined.”
