FREE SPEECH, INTIMIDATION AND GOVERNMENTS

It appears that as Guyanese, we have learned nothing from the past and are poised on the brink of returning to those not so distant dark times, where free speech was not entertained by the ruling government. Given the current climate and recent attacks on businessman Dr.Terrence Campbell, we cannot seem to leave behind the scourge of attacks on freedom of speech.

Specifically, from the late 1970s onward, criticisms of the government of Guyana have been met with short shrift. This was heightened following the 1979 stabbing to death of Fr. Bernard Darke SJ by a member of the House of Israel, and the 1980 killing of the WPA's Dr. Walter Rodney. During that period, there was no independent media. Obviously, the  state run Guyana Chronicle newspaper would not print any article that was less than complimentary about the ruling party. Likewise, Radio Demerara and the Guyana Broadcasting Service. The then main opposition party had its Mirror Newspaper. However, being a party organ, it had its own biases and so was not wildly read. Similarly, the ruling PNC's New Nation paper. The alternative, was the Catholic Standard. That publication, was considered by many as the only independent publication at the time. What was really a weekly newsletter for  parishioners, turned into the only source of  alternative news to government propaganda. The then Burnham-led PNC government considered the Catholic Standard verboten and an enemy of the state. As such, various types of intimidatory tactics including restrictions on the importation of newsprint and ink were employed. Unlike the state-run newspaper, the diocese was not allowed to import printing material. The few independent printing companies where the Standard was printed, were threatened and instructed not to print the paper. At one point, it was printed on coloured paper  donated by parishioners and rolled off at various locations in secret, as raids were often carried out.

The late Fr. Andrew Morrison SJ, Editor of the Standard, and Mike James were attacked on many occasions and assaulted by thugs at the behest of the then government.  The general thinking is that  Fr. Darke's stabbing was a case of mistaken identity, as it was really Fr. Morrison, the thorn of an editor, that they had wanted to get rid of.  Prominent members of the WPA at that time including Omawale, Rupert Roopnarine, Karen DeSouza, Bonita Harris, lawyer Moses Bhagwan,  Bro. Eusi Kwayana and of course Dr. Walter Rodney all experienced violence at the hands of PNC agents for daring to speak up about wrongdoings of the government.

Arguably, it was during this period that using members of the Guyana Police Force as weapons against anyone who dared to criticise the government became firmly entrenched. Along with the police,  lieutenants and foot soldiers of the infamous House of Israel led by American fugitive from justice, Rabbi Edward Washington  aka David Hill,  was also a tool employed by the PNC government to discouraged freedom of speech and association. It disrupted opposition party and union rallies, as well as the picket lines of striking bauxite and sugar workers. 

In fact, current PPP Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton was a former priest of the House of Israel and had testified that its members had committed oppressive and terrorising acts at the PNC government's behest. Further,  it was stated that members also donned uniforms of the Guyana Police Force minus regulation badge numbers and acting with impunity would attack and beat attendees and speakers alike at public meetings held by the opposition WPA. It is well documented that House of Israel members were also used as scab labour during strikes.

Fast forward to the 1990s and the movement Guyanese Action for Reform and Democracy (GUARD).   This was a group formed by Mr. Clairmont Lye and other like-minded citizens, including current Alliance For Change (AFC) leader attorney Nigel Hughes,  who were tired of the lack of transparency and democracy which existed at that time. It was this movement that paved the way for former Prime Minister Sam Hinds, a member of the movement,  to join the civic arm of the PPP. Having attended these meetings at Parade Ground, I witnessed first hand attempts at intimidation. This time, it took the form of members of GPF Special Branch taking photographs and making note of the attendees. As citizens who were permitted by the Constitution of Guyana to assemble peacefully, it was repugnant to say the least.  Using the GPF as it's tool to grind anyone who opposes it into submission is the hallmark of ruling governments, whether PPP or PNC.

For instance, in the 1980 treason trial of the Sookram Brothers at the Leonora Magistrate's Court, under cross examination, the then head of the murder investigation unit, stated under oath that he had not questioned another key figure because he had no instructions. (Kwayana)

A hold over of this modus operandi reared its ugly head under APNU in 2016. Following published criticism of the Jubilee Independence Celebration dinner, a goverment minister allegedly used her office to influence members of the Guyana Police Force to attempt to arrest a person related to the author on a trumphed up accusation and also sought information on the whereabouts of the author. However, better judgement prevailed in that case and it died a quiet death.

Another tactic employed by governments of Guyana, is to charge opposition members with treason. The Sookram Brothers in the 1980s, were members of the Working People's Alliance (WPA). This charge was subsequently thrown out, as it was found that statements and so-called confessions of the accused, were not free and voluntary, but obtained by brutal force against the accused.  Subsequently,  in the 1990s, the PPP trio, Kissoon,  Singh and Sanasie were accused of treason and stood trial. The case against them was later dismissed by then Chief Justice Rudolph Harper under grounds similar to that of the Sookram brothers case. For remaining a principled officer of the court and refusing to allow government interference which had long been the order of the day, CJ Harper was then sidelined.

Here we are in 2025, once again having regressed. Reportedly, anyone who publicly criticises the PPP administration and highlights glaring corrupt and shady practices, automatically becomes a target for intimidation. Of course, all done with the aim of muzzling those who have the courage to speak out against the ills. Not to mention this intimidation is to also serve as a deterrent to anyone else who was considering revealing any potentially damning information against its government. One week ago, businessman Dr. Terrence Campbell and AFC leader Nigel Hughes revealed some allegedly corrupt land deals in Guyana and an over .5 million USD property in New York. A Sherwyn Greaves.  Convicted fraudster Ed Ahmad is allegedly tied to this as well.

Since then, Dr. Campbell has been subjected to an ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation. One Ameir Ahmad,  allegedly a relative of Ed Ahmad, took to social media and began a smear campaign which has as its basis,  unsubstantiated threats Dr. Campbell allegedly made against him. Of course likely at the behest of the PPP. Further, the intimidatory tactics to which Dr. Campbell is subjected,  includes surveillance and being tailed by tinted vehicles during his daily activities. You may ask yourselves about the convenience of these spurious claims of threats of bodily harm and racial epithets Ameir Ahmad alleges Dr. Campbell  made to him via a telephone call. Not surprisingly, they all followed what Dr. Campbell claimed to be suspicious transactions which allegedly smacks of tax evasion by Ameir Ahmad. It also followed the revelations with respect to the property issue in the United States.

Not satisfied with that, the PPP Government agents have taken it further. The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) was undoubtedly instructed to investigate money laundering claims made against Dr. Campbell. Again, one is forced to confront the timing of this claim. At the risk of restating the obvious, this has all happened within the same week of Dr. Campbell and AFC's Nigel Hughes's revelations of alleged corrupt property and land practices involving the PPP government and its cronies. It must be noted that Vice President  Bharrat Jagdeo in his weekly rants, thought it prudent to raise the issue of the attempts of Mr. Hughes to  acquire some  50 acres of forested land in Essequibo. Jagdeo, in his wisdom, sought to compare the bush covered land with some 35 acres of prime real estate in the city of Georgetown purchased by Ed Ahmad and others. There is also the question of land adjacent to the Highway of Heroes of which, the beneficiaries have been reportedly transferred to the New York  based CEO. (Hughes)

What is interesting, is that SOCU in its wisdom, has not moved to investigate many of the overnight millionaires who now proliferate the landscape under the PPP administration. I am subject to correction, but as far as I am aware, SOCU has never investigated the Mohameds' who are now under Magnitsky Sanctions.

Unlike many of the overnight millionaires in Guyana, Dr. Campbell's progression can be traced over forty odd years. Evidence of this can be garnered from the time he left the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company and became the FedEx agent in Guyana. By dint of hard work and shrewd business acumen, he invested his returns, obtained bank loans and grew his businesses. None of the governments of Guyana, gave him any contracts or special treatment.

So here we are again, well beyond the 1980s but back to business as usual. Apparently, it does not matter whether one speaks out against the wrongdoings of either of the two main political parties in Guyana.  Once it is in government, the ruling party  will resort to the same ways of intimidating citizens, despite having been subjected to the exact practices when it was opposition. Once one speaks out in criticism of the Guyana government of the day, one is then literally persecuted. So, where do we go from here? How do citizens of Guyana demand better from both sides of the political divide?

What I will say, is that this current campaign by the PPP government, continues the tradition of vindictiveness born of sheer malice and brought on by an intolerance of criticism; a hallmark of the governments of Guyana. All of whom, both past and present, seem to be entrenched in the misguided notion that they are above reproach.

In conclusion, I would like to remind the good citizens of Guyana of the words of Lutheran pastor, Reverend Martin Niemoller.

              " First they came for the

Communists

           And I did not speak out

                Because I was not a Communist.

       Then they came for the Socialists

              And I did not speak out

             Because I was not a Socialist.

                Then they came for the trade

unionists

And I did not speak out

              Because I was not a trade.

unionist.

Then they came for the Jews

                And I did not speak out

                Because I was not a Jew

                Then they came for me

                And there was no one left

                To speak out for me."