The older people love reggae music; not the dancehall thing that the young people chase after. Rather they like the music of Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Cynthia Schloss and the female law student out of Barbados who while at the Norman Manley Law School, penned the song, Breakfast in Bed, and became a sensation.
There was this song, ‘Pick up from where we left off. Do the things we should have done’ by a young Bajan named Mike Grosvenor. Many hadn’t heard it in a while but it came to mind when people began to look at the government and its appointments.
The government raced to reinstall people who were released from government employ under a cloud. Some were before the courts. There were Anil Nandlall and Winston Brassington. There was Jason Abdullah who spent some time in jail for a faeces assault on Freddie Kissoon.
These people all hold prominent positions in the new government. The Guyana Sugar Corporation has as its Chief Executive Officer, a man who was once married to a prominent reporter attached to the Stabroek News. She was one of the better reporters back then.
The marriage fell apart because of domestic violence. The man lived in the States but came home prior to 2015 campaigning for the Alliance For Change. He did not get a big position so he came back prior to 2020, this time campaigning for the PPP.
I wonder what Education Minister Priya Manickchand is saying about him. She did not like him because of the beating he inflicted on that reporter. In fact, Priya wanted to see him in jail.
It couldn’t be that the cupboard is bare so the PPP has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find people to serve. It reached way back to find Manzoor Nadir for the job of Speaker of the National Assembly.
This was the fellow who headed The United Force and who used his seat in the National Assembly to sit with the PPP and even vote with that party.
Regardless of how some people may feel no one can dictate to the government on whom to employ and in what position. Even the appointment of Oneidge Walrond as Minister was not something on which the government consulted. It didn’t need to.
But the government appears to have no regard for the independence of other entities. There is the Guyana Elections Commission. The Granger administration further consolidated the independence of that entity by providing it with its own budgetary allocation. GECOM now does not need to apply to the government or funding.
But it seems as if that is as far as the GECOM independence goes. Attorney General Anil Nandlall and even President Irfaan Ali want to dictate to GECOM whom to employ. Both have said that there are people employed within GECOM with whom they are unhappy.
That is their right. There are people in the government that many do not like.
President Ali and Nandlall talk about Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, and Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers. In their book, these two people are guilty of malpractice.
Nandlall was before the court on a larceny charge but not once did he consider himself guilty. In fact, he basked in the adage that a man is innocent until proven guilty.
Irfaan Ali was also before the courts and he, too, did not consider himself guilty of anything. He remains innocent to this day. I therefore cannot understand why what was applicable to them is not applicable to others.
None of the people to whom Ali and Nandlall have objected have a criminal conviction against their name. The same cannot be said of some of the people whom the government has employed.
Gerry Gouveia was before the courts charged with an irregularity while he was a pilot in the Guyana Defence Force. One of the co-accused was jailed. Today, Gouveia is an advisor to the government. Other convicts have been appointed to government office.
It is surprising that no one has confronted these people on their duplicity. I wonder if GECOM refuses to act in accordance with the government’s needs whether the government would be like the little boy and his cricket bat.
“If I don’t get my way I leave with my bat. No more play.”
Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh, has so far refused to heed calls from people now in the government to fire some of the people whom the government wants fired. She recognizes the independence of her entity.
Sadly, GECOM is not independent of political influence. Its very origin is political in nature with representatives of the major political parties forming its decision-making body.
So the talk about fixing GECOM ahead of any local government elections makes for interesting listening. If GECOM decides that it will conduct House-to-House registration it has the authority to do so.
And similarly, if it decides that it can hold elections within a given timeframe, then so be it.
