Mr Hinds Africans do want their half of the ‘corn’ or no deal

Dear Editor,

I write in response to the former Prime Minister Mr Samuel A.A. Hinds’s missive published in the 5th June 2020 edition of the Stabroek News: captioned, `I favour inclusive government rather than a shared PPP/C and PNCR cabinet’. My response will not be lengthy but sufficient to make my case.

Mr Hinds’ stated preference for inclusive governance under the dictates of the PPP/C is another testimony of that party‘s intention to perpetuate its previous policy of racial domination. His position on governance demonstrates that he has embraced the reckless doctrine of the PPP/C nurtured in Freedom House since the 1990s. That party is incapable of “selfchange” to measure up to objective reality. Reading the former PM’s letter, he writes as a confident “winner” of tainted elections: the victor playing with the defeated. Some will say fair politics. I will argue short-sighted politics.

The former Prime Minister made an appeal directed to the younger generation of Guyanese to whom he seeks to sell the PPP/C as a party of electoral “angels” with no history of rigging elections. On many occasions in his missive, he alludes to “truth”, and “truth commission”. He did so without an iota of criticism of his party or self-criticism of his own political wrongdoings. This observation is important since the former PM was the direct beneficiary of rigging in favour of the

PPP/C in the 2006 General and Regional Elections, when he was allotted a parliamentary seat won by the AFC. This seat, Samuel Hinds occupied for the entire 9th Parliament. He is now engaged in deception, but he owes the young generation he is appealing to an explanation - confession is good for the soul.

As Prime Minister in the PPP/C government from 1992 to 2015 Hinds shared collective responsibility for the systemic marginalization of the African and Indigenous communities, and the killing of African young men by state-sponsored death squads. For Hinds and the PPP/C this is no “big thing”, rulers must rule. Having been in office for 23 years he now writes: “Cheddi and we of the PPP and the PPP/C have steadily held that in time race could matter less and less, and we could win ever larger numbers of AfroGuyanese to join us, our party.” This is a classic example of race politics under the guise of electoral competition. Hinds failed to offer the African community a share of the “corn”: the PPP/C code word in their secret communications for “executive power.” I learnt of this by accident from an email that originated from Hinds. Yes, Mr Hinds Africans do want their half of the “corn” or no deal. Then there is the factor of the Jagdeo form of inclusion, that is attempting to co-opt and “buy out” prominent African Guyanese and calling it inclusivity, this at the expense of African dignity.

The former Prime Minister also seems confused on the issue of trust. He writes: “Considering what Guyanese had gone through since December 21, 2018, there is greater need now to `rebuild trust’ much more than when then President Jagdeo adumbrated `building trust’ in the mid2000s.” I am contending that the coalition’s handling of the no-confidence motion is not comparable to the damage done to Guyana and undermining the “trust” that resulted from the PPP/C’s 23 years rule. Here is some of the damage accumulated under the PPP/C rule: political marginalization, criminalization of the state, state-sponsored killings and the corruption of national institutions including the police and army. This was tremendous destruction of the nation assisted by “trust”. Against this record what is Hinds talking about?

I turn to former PM Samuel A.A Hinds’s “wisdom” he shared with the young generation: “Our younger

Guyanese generation may well ask of me, `what do you think are our possibilities after that truthful declaration?’ My answer would be `I hope that we get on a road of truth and reconciliation.’” Mr Hinds will serve the nation well in this endeavour if he starts the process by being truthful that he was a beneficiary of election rigging for the PPP/C when he occupied the parliamentary seat won by the AFC in the 2006 elections. We also need to hear his confession on the role played by the PPP/C government in state-sponsored killings.

It is time for you to demonstrate moral fortitude, Mr Samuel Hinds. And be mindful of Dr Henry Jeffrey’s wisdom that executive power-sharing is vital to building trust.

Yours faithfully, Tacuma Ogunseye