…AFC leaders
Ralph Ramkarran is a well-meaning fellow…but he’s either incurably optimistic or preternaturally naïve. Pointing to the studied silence of the PNC-led Government on the constitutional reform they’d promised – to open up the political space in Guyana – he repeated an earlier suggestion: “The AFC’s Ministers should leave the Government, sit in the back benches, support the Government if they wish, but insist on constitutional reform in return for their continuing support.”
Your Eyewitness choked on his coffee when he read that!! Does Ramkarran really hope the AFC leaders will do that? Which one? Trotman has already returned home to the PNC – even though the old guard hasn’t taken him into its bosom. But that’s grist for another mill. In the meantime, he ain’t going nowhere! A bird in the (PNC) hand – small as it may be, bereft of oil – is worth dozens in the AFC’s “dead meat” bush! Similarly, Patterson, who’s taken to the PNC (venal) ways like a shark smelling blood, is also “home”.
That leaves Nagamootoo and Ramjattan. Now this is what surprised your Eyewitness the most. Ramkarran knew these two fellas for donkey years in the PPP; did he ever see either one of them do anything for “principles”?? Ramjattan jumped ship because he saw no way up the ladder under the much younger Jagdeo, who was picked ahead of him by the Jagans. Egged on by a certain big power that wanted the PPP out (again!!), he really thought he could leverage their support all the way to the presidency.
Now that he (hopefully) realises he was just a pawn in the chess game that ousted the PPP, he now knows there’s no hope for him in any future dispensation. If he quits the PNC for the principle of constitutional reform – as pushed in the APNU/AFC coalition Manifesto cited by Ramkarran – that ensures them and the PPP getting pieces of the (power) pie. But he’s gonna be anathema to both!! He wouldn’t be just between a rock and a hard place – he’ll be between Limbo and Purgatory!!
As for Nagamootoo, surely Ramkarran knows more than anyone – after he declined to be a Minister in the Jagan’s government – how spineless and self-serving this fella is. He’d rather have his dozen outriders, mega salary, air-conditioned “big house” and write his cringy columns! And if it’s only for another two years, there’s that mega pension that’ll keep him supplied with “daaru” for the rest of his days!!
So no…there ain’t gonna be no rebellion from the AFC. They’ll go quietly into the night, hoping some crumbs will be thrown their way.
…on PNC bullyism
In his Chronic column this week, Nagamootoo wrote he saw three groups outside Parliament to greet Granger: “coalition supporters”, sugar workers and marijuana advocates. The sugar workers – mostly from Berbice where 4000 workers were thrown on the breadlines – were there to demand their severance pay which had been delayed for a year.
But by the time Nagamootoo wrote his column at least two days later, he must’ve seen the video of what transpired outside Parliament while he was soaking in Granger’s speech – which he would be reporting on for the Chronic. In the video, the true face of the PNC was bared – belying the platitudes on “sugar workers’ welfare” Granger was spouting to the National Assembly.
The male and female “coalition supporters”, bedecked in green, were taunting the sugar workers, in the most vicious manner possible. One man repeatedly shouted into their faces: “This is Georgetown! Our country!! Did you get visa to come heah??” Well, Nagamootoo is also from Berbice.
But he earned his visa by selling his conscience for a mess of pottage!
…or realpolitik?
Your Eyewitness guarantees that nothing will come out of the murder of Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey, from the international community.
There, money is the balm that smothers all qualms!!
