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Death Squad
A Crisis in Government
The Peope Must Assert Themselves
Death
Squads
(1/18/2004)
The
allegations by George Bacchus that the Minister of Home Affairs
Ronald Gajraj is implicated in the operations of a “Death
Squad” has brought us in Guyana to another critical juncture
in the development (or death) of our State. The need for us to
have a state that serves the interests of all Guyanese, to be
beholden to no partisan interest, to be staffed by Guyanese who
see themselves as a “Universal Class” is a point that
ROAR has been pushing from our inception. It’s a point that
doesn’t seem to be appreciated by the PPP and the PNC –
and to be frank – apparently by most Guyanese. Guyanese
have stood by and seen those who control the state use the organs
of the state and extra-state organisations to pursue narrow partisan
interests for so long that apparently they feel this is the way
things ought to be. “It’s our turn to do what we want
to do,” seems to be the dominant (and nihilistic) sentiment,
in each of the two major ethnic groups.
‘60’s
Death Squad
This
is a fatal mistake. If we cannot wake up to the absolute necessity
for a neutral state, then we’d better pack up our bags and
all leave. The Guyanese state was launched at Independence after
massive ethnic violence wrought by Death Squads formed by both
the PNC and PPP between 1962-64. The PNC received massive covert
support from elements of the Police and Volunteer Forces in that
pre-independence struggle and it set a precedent for using those
forces for partisan interests. We didn’t seem to have learnt
our lesson. Between 1964 and 1992 it has been well documented
by numerous credible sources (notably by Professor Ken Danns in
his book, “Power and Domination in Guyana”) that the
Security Forces more or less became arms of the PNC. There were
also outside forces such as the House of Israel and the Kick-down-the-door
bandits that were used by the PNC to keep opposition forces cowed.
Let us not forget that Dr. Walter Rodney, by all accounts, was
assassinated by a member of the
Guyana Defence Force. We still didn’t learn our lesson.
So
today we have the PPP accused of creating its own Death Squad
to go after individuals fingered as “criminals”. The
reports contend that many of these “criminals” were
tortured before being killed. ROAR’s position, expressed
over a week ago, was that the Minister of Home Affairs should
recuse himself while an independent Inquiry is conducted into
the allegations. We have the word of the Minister that he had
conversations with several individuals now charged with the murder
of Bacchus’ brother. The question arises as to why would
the Minister, in charge of the Security Forces of the country,
resort to dealing with individuals, each of whom had brushes with
the law?
Ethnic
Insecurities
One
explanation, in fact, harks back to the fundamental reason for
the political impasse in Guyana – ethnic insecurities. The
PPP is a party with deep historical memories. The role of the
Disciplined Forces personnel on behalf on the PNC, before and
after Independence, could not be brushed aside. The PPP did not
have faith on the Disciplined forces to act professionally, from
the moment they took office in 1992. However, rather than doing
the right thing and work to install that professionalism at all
cost into those Forces, the PPP pretended that everything was
hunky dory and that there were no changes necessary. The irony
was that those Forces themselves expected that changes were necessary
to return their professionalism after the excesses of the PNC’s
regime.
The
main reason that the PPP did not act was that they did not have
the courage to accept that the fundamental factor underlying Guyana’s
politics was race. The Forces’ lack of professionalism was
underscored by the fact that the PNC had exacerbated the British
divide and rule policy by not only increasing the dominance of
its African support base within the Forces but also exponentially
increasing their numbers. In an article in 1993, The Anatomy of
Power in Guyana, I pointed out the need to reform the Forces among
other institutions. Later that same year I predicted that there
would be anti-Indian violence. At the time, my old buddy Freddy
criticised me for making this prediction.
On
January 12th 1998, when anti-Indian violence did break out –
the PPP was caught with their pants down in terms of providing
protection for their supporters. Shown that the Emperor PPP had
no clothes, it was not surprising that the violence against Indians
intensified. During 1998, dozens of Indians, primarily businessmen,
were murdered. In fact ROAR was launched on Jan 17th 1999 at a
rally against crime where it issued a detailed proposal for the
reform and professionalisation of the Forces. I pointed out then
that Africans who were silent about the lack of effort of the
Force to apprehend the murderers were “creating a Frankestein
that would come back to haunt them.” The PPP lambasted ROAR,
deeming us “racists” and reiterated their support
for the Forces.
It
is apparent now that the PPP, after refusing to professionalise
the state institution that was legally responsible for dealing
with security – the Police Force – turned to elements
of the Black Clothes to take on those who were preying on Indians.
We argued at the time that this approach would backfire. Lo and
behold, we witnessed the inevitable excesses of the squad and
their dismemberment by their opponents – especially after
the infamous 2002 Mash jailbreak. By now the political-criminal
enterprise had become enmeshed with drug elements and we witnessed
two responses – both outside the official State avenue -
on which everyone seemed to have given up. These were the “Phantom
Squad”, apparently sponsored by businessmen who had faced
the brunt of the attacks, and a “Death Squad” that
had an official, if illegal, imprimature.
It
is this latter group that appears to have been fingered and for
which Minister Gajraj is being blamed. ROAR’s contention
is that while the depredations against the innocent, especially
as we witnessed last year against Indians on the East Coast, had
to be dealt with, it serves none of us, even Indians, for that
exigency to be handled outside the official State apparatus. This
will inevitably come back to haunt all of us.
The
way only forward is to conduct an official Inquiry into the allegations
before us and simultaneously professionalise our Disciplined Forces
as ROAR has been demanding since its formation. We propose a panel
of three ex-Chancellors, who are fortunately still around, for
the former task. We fortunately have a Disciplined Forces Commission
already functioning, to help us with the latter.
A
Crisis of Governance
(part
one) 12/28/03
“Guyana’s
contemporary crisis is in a profound sense, a crisis of governance.”
If these words were uttered by a politician or even an ordinary
citizen, one may be forgiven for dismissing it as typical anti-government
hyperbole. But when we hear that it is the considered judgement
of no less a staid and “outside” observer than the
World Bank, we should sit up and take notice. Banks, by and large,
are not noted for maligning their clients in public…after
all, they’re kept in business by those same clients coming
back for more “business”. So when the “banker
to the world” issues such a report as the one that the government
of Guyana fought tooth and nail to suppress, we should know that,
at the very least, something is radically wrong in the land.
We all know what a fuss the Government and its apologists have
kicked up against those who even dared whisper that Guyana may
have a crisis. Men with multitudes of doctorates strained mightily
to produce all sorts of textual hermeneutics and exegeses to show
that such a condition just couldn’t possibly exist in Guyana!
We await from these learned men, the Government’s response
to the World Bank’s bold and unequivocal contention. One
thing the PPP Government can’t possibly claim is that the
World Bank doesn’t know about crises in general and the
one in particular in Guyana. The PPP, after all, regularly reminds
us that the PNC had brought Guyana to such a deep and pervasive
crises in all areas of national life that it had to return to
the World Bank 1989 to bail it out. Empty Rice Pots (ERP) and
all that. Guyana had originally gone on to a World Bank/IMF program
a decade before but had been suspended when Burnham refused to
swallow their medicine. It is the World Bank and
the IMF that have kept Guyana going on a lifeline that was initiated
with the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) of the PNC under Mr.
Hoyte. Now if it’s one thing that the World Bank does we
is that it conducts studies! If the PNC had owed US$2 billion
and the PPP (as Mr. Jagdeo informed us) borrowed US$900 million,
you can be sure that a good 20% or some US$600 million went to
consultants to study us and produce reports! The World Bank knows
of what it speaks when it comes to descriptions of Guyana.
In this “Development Policy Review” report (which
can be downloaded from www.worldbank.org/gy) the World Bank focuses
on “The Challenges of Governance and Growth. In this article
I will deal with the governance aspects. What are some of the
characteristics of “Guyana’s contemporary crisis”
according the World Bank? The central problem, as ROAR has been
saying, stems from the ethnic competition. We can do no better
than to quote sections of the report: “Prior to and following
Independence, the two largest ethnic communities jostled for economic,
social and political power. Each group wanted to be “on
top” and to gain advantage and maintain paramountcy. Ethnic
security was deemed an imperative, seemingly even more important
than economic well being.”
The report describes the Ethnic Security Dilemma, originally enunciated
by ROAR back in 1988, rather succinctly: “Despite the fact
that the ruling party (PPP) enjoys majority control of the legislative
and executive branches, the political system has been characterizes
by deadlock. This is in part due to the fact that the Afro Guyanese,
who are the main supporters of the opposition PNC, are dominant
in the public sector generally, and in the police and defence
forces in particular. By virtue of its control of the capital
city Georgetown, the Opposition also frequently paralyses the
city to further its political agenda.”
The gridlock extends especially to the functioning of the Executive
since, “decision making is highly centralised, with most
decisions, which could be expected to be made at lower levels
(individual minister or departments) being instead made by the
Presidency.” With the confluence of these factors, “policy
decisions are thus routinely delayed or deferred, and the Government
is regarded by supporters and detractors alike as being irresolute.”
As ROAR said in 2001, the PPP is the epitome of weak leadership
that, in the words of the World Bank, “has frequently complained
that it lacks effective political space.” The point, of
course, is that the weakness of the PPP to create its own “political
space” inevitably led to the collapse of law and order.”
“Perhaps
nowhere is the crisis of governance more evident than in the area
of security for life and property…Each group (Indians and
Africans) views the crime problem through ethnic or political
lenses…(it) has served to destabilize the society and the
political system in general, and the economy in particular. It
generates fear and anxiety, fuels migration, discourages long
gestation investment needed to reinvigorate the economy, and severely
compromise good governance.”
The
report talks about addressing the political impasse in words also
redolent of ROAR’s oft stated position: “First and
foremost, (there has to be a) resolution of the political and
ethnic divide.” In other words a political problem demands
a political solution. However, while the report mentions the PPP’s
“inclusive governance” and the PNC’s “shared
governance” proposals, it observes that in the opinion of
some, “the PPP fears that concessions to the PNC would be
regarded by its supporters as appeasement and a sign of weakness.”
As if the PPP’s actions during the past five years of crisis
have been signs of bravery and sticking to principles!
The
World Bank notes that there are advocates who see that, “Guyana’s
chance of achieving stability and good governance will only come
when all groups in the society feel that they are equitably represented
in the power relations of the state…For this group, the
alternative to power sharing is persistent conflict, state failure,
and political collapse.” These are the very words of ROAR.
The World Bank advises that “the measures (contained in
the May 2003 Communique between the President and Leader of the
Opposition) should be given a chance to work before any further
instalments of power sharing are contemplated.” ROAR’s
position has been that while the incremental steps being taken
are necessary, they are nor sufficient for stability and progress.
A
chasm cannot be crossed by several timid hops – we have
to have the courage to take one mighty leap.
The
People Must Assert Themselves
(7/7/2002)
The
other foot has dropped. For months we have been warning that the
criminality sweeping the country was not just a matter of a few
good ‘ole’ boys playing at being Robin Hood, as the
PPP would have it. These are domestic terrorists who had a political
point to make. To wit, that African Guyanese were being marginalised
and they would rectify that sad state of affairs pronto by removing
the government. The mob that invaded the Presidential compound
are cut from that same cloth - the overt leaders, Philip Bynoe
and Mark Benschop (who are now wanted for sedition) have been
openly advocating the same solution as declared by the terrorists,
for a long time now. Many persons have reported that the terrorists
were amongst the marchers. Some have said that ROAR was too tough
on the PPP but we were simply trying to tell them that power inevitably
expands to fill a vacuum. Power is something that if you don’t
use it you’ll lose it. As the man in the street says, “If
you lapse, you collapse.”
This
is what has happened. If treason was being advocated openly for
so long why was no action taken? The government will answer that
under the present laws they couldn’t do anything. But why
have they not introduced the anti-terrorism bill with broad powers
of arrest and detention (among other powers) that ROAR has been
advocating, which would have allowed them to act more swiftly?
We await an answer. In the meantime, the county is traumatised
by the PNC’s protest march, which from reports reaching
us, un-leashed far more widespread violence against Indians than
on January 12, 1998 and culminated in a storming of the Presidential
compound.
Once
again we have the public apologists trotting out the standard
excuses: not only Indians were beaten (as if that excuses the
atrocities, and as if one raindrop makes a storm), criminals infiltrated
the marches (as if the whole march was not criminal from the moment
they started molesting Indians on the East Coast), and the shootings
at the Presidential compound aggravated the mob (I guess the Presidential
Guards were derelict in their duties when they didn’t offer
tea to their ‘visitors’). The PNC has also said that
it wasn’t involved even though they have accepted that they
mobilized for the march and even though the Chairman of the party,
Mr Robert Corbin and executive member, Mr James McAllister were
present in the march.
The
police were most derelict in their duties and their claims of
being stretched thin by their duties during the Caricom summit
do not hold water. The police led the march from the East Coast
and must have known about the robberies, vandalism and assaults
while the protesters were on their way to the city. After such
a beginning, in light of our recent history of protest marches,
what did the police think would happen in Georgetown, a garden
party?
The
march should have been stopped on the East Coast, plain and simple.
Why has the police not even been slapped on the wrist for this
lapse? What were the standing orders for the Presidential Guard
at the Presidential compound if the compound were to be invaded?
There are none? How did the security forces think the terrorists
were going to ‘overthrow’ the government? By a letter
requesting that the President should step down? Reports of a probable
coup attempt were discussed over every fora in the last month.
How come the protesters got inside the compound? Why is the Home
Affairs Minister still at his job after this fiasco?
We
have come a long way since 1998 in one detail: no one can pussyfoot
around the issue and not accept that Indians were the primary
targets of these protest-related attacks and it is Africans who
perpetrated the attacks. Even the Stabroek News, the PPP and the
PNC have had to use the dreaded, and previously taboo word, ‘Indian.’
The question now is when will they move on and ask why these vicious
unprovoked attacks occur and what ought to be done to stop them.
It was not a question of money. The owner of Payless said that
he offered the mob that burnt down his store $250,000 (a sad index
of how life in Guyana goes on is that this money was specially
kept aside to offer bandits to spare employees from harm) but
this was refused. His store was still torched. An Indian store
had to be burnt to put fear into the Indian business class. It’s
a political thing.
A
Commission of Inquiry must be established to determine who was
responsible for these latest attacks. Charges have to be laid.
Indians cannot be beaten like dogs in the streets and not a man
be charged. Today many Africans have denounced these racist attacks;
this is progress. Yet even today there are those who deny that
widespread attacks against Indians occurred against Indians on
January 12, 1998. We must prevent this myopia from remaining.
The businesses that were burnt down must be rebuilt at government
expense since it was their abdication of responsibility, through
the lapse of their security forces, that caused the losses. All
citizens who were violated must be acknowledged and compensated.
We call upon citizens who suffered losses to file charges against
the police and government for dereliction of duty. Please contact
ROAR and we will assist with the charges.
All
Guyanese, and not just Indians must now accept that the security
forces as presently constituted cannot offer them the security
they know they need. We have to agitate for a balanced force but
immediately Indians must take whatever means necessary to defend
their families and their properties. We have to look at measures
such as federalism, which will share power in this country and
offer security for all. All of this can only occur if Indians
reject the weak PPP and select leaders that can deal firmly but
fairly with the PNC. We have always said that the PNC has shown
throughout its history that it will do whatever it has to do to
represent its supporters—African Guyanese.
But
Africans will have to accept that the PNC’s type of representation
gets them nowhere. The PPP has proven itself weak and cowardly
and cannot command the respect needed to deal with the PNC. The
PPP, incredibly, even today insists that it represents African
Guyanese. Does it represent those who stormed the Presidential
Compound? ROAR’s strong leadership and blueprint for a United
Federal Guyana, a united balanced disciplined force, and a United
Front Government (for one or two terms) makes sense even more
today. We, the people, must assert ourselves: the fire still isn’t
out.
