What fresh mask will be used to frustrate the will of the people?

Dear Editor,
In the ‘70s there was a famous Mexican professional wrestler known as Mil Mascaras, the man of a thousand faces, in Guyana we have David Granger, a man in his 70’s who has a thousand faces. The supposed emasculation of Moses Nagamootoo’s pronouncements that the curfew would apply to the GECOM recount and observers would be incarcerated/quarantined for two weeks upon arrival is just another chapter in the Granger playbook. I do not doubt that Granger is behind Nagamootoo’s initial statement and was also involved in the preparation and dissemination of the infamous dossier. It is a patatern of deceptive behaviour and use of simpleton surrogates that stretches back well before Granger’s presidency.

We can begin where the mask slipped for the first time, during the PNC congress on July 27, 2014; after a count of votes for the three candidates for the position of leader of the party, Granger had the plurality but not a majority as required by the PNC Constitution, there should have been a run-off round of voting between Granger and the second-highest vote-getter, Carl Greenidge; instead, a ‘Mingo-like’ declaration was made and the process declared closed.

In the ensuing mêlée, a gunshot rang out, mass panic ensued and Granger emerged with his leadership intact to declare that a PPP agent provocateur had fired his weapon and escaped Congress Place. Later, images appeared that showed the shots were fired by Mr Primo who was Granger’s bodyguard. In the ensuing years, we have witnessed this duplicity repeated ad nauseam.

Granger is often quoted as saying he will be guided by the Constitution, provisions of which “require no gloss”, however, often need multiple layers of judicial interpretation; Granger claims to be awaiting advice from the courts but when the advice does not match his needs, he will inform all that “the Chief Justice has her opinion and I have mine” as in the instance when he (Granger) was advised that his appointment of James Patterson was in breach of the Constitution; similarly, Granger abrogated his responsibility to set an election date to GECOM. It is a dance with willing partners taking turns to wear one of Granger’s masks; to play his patsy; to be the foolish foil for his saving wisdom.

Joe Harmon spoke extensively about the ‘dossier’ and the Government hiring of a lobbying firm; when the dossier was exposed as an APNU/AFC party diatribe, Granger stepped in to disavow knowledge. And yet, three days after the very public disavowal, Joe Harmon is on the job, his ‘clean-slate’ letter still in process. Contrast this to the treatment meted out to Carl Greenidge, who made his objections to China financing the Guyana team at the United Nations Group 77 pellucid and loud. Greenidge was ostracised and shunted out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without ceremony. Ironically, it was Joe Harmon who confirmed Greenidge had been given his walking papers but all the other letters were delayed due to electoral circumstances.

As we are dragged through the longest election in the history of the world, we can only guess as to what we will face tomorrow, what fresh mask will be used to frustrate the will of the people. At least our tormentor is partially unmasked. Mil Mascaras was never unmasked in the ring but his identity was known; the similarity to the man who served as our President for five years is uncanny, we know his identity but we may never truly know the true face hidden under those thousands of masks.

Respectfully,
Robin Singh