The 1990 attempted overthrow of the Government was a misadventure, a miscalculation by Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr, who thought he would ride on the high wave of discontent in the country at the time. This was the view of popular television personality Andy Johnson, now CEO of the Government Information Services Ltd, as he gave evidence yesterday before the Commission of Enquiry into the July 1990 insurrection by Muslimeen rebels. Johnson was a news editor at the Express when the Muslimeen staged the uprising. He was asked by commission chairman Sir David Simmons what, based on his analysis and coverage of events before the bloody incident, he felt caused the coup d'etat. He replied that the general feeling was that the people rose up because of oppressive conditions imposed by the then government.
"People were angry and dispossessed but they did not rise up," Johnson said. "It was a misadventure, a miscalculation by somebody who hoped to ride on the mass discontent." Being more specific, he said: "Abu Bakr made the mistake of feeling he would ride on the high wave of disenchantment. "But, by and large, better heads prevailed...The masses didn't join him in the assault on our democracy," he added. Johnson further disputed the notion that government MPs who were not in Parliament when the Muslimeen invaded the building on Friday, July 29, 1990, had prior knowledge. He said it was normal for MPs who did not have presentations to leave Parliament after the 4.30 pm tea break.
Patrick Manning and Basdeo Panday, who were both in Opposition at the time, were not in Parliament when the Muslimeen staged the overthrow. Johnson also disagreed with the general belief that when Bakr, on Trinidad & Tobago Television (TTT) announced there was to be no looting, it was a signal to loot. Noting that in uprisings everywhere, people loot, Johnson said: "I believe when there's a clear absence of law and order, it's human nature to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do." He said that by Sunday he began to get scared when he saw exactly what was happening in the absence of law and order. "Looters kept heading east, going up to El Socorro," he added.
Responding to questions from commissioner Eastlyn McKenzie, Johnson said he found his media colleagues performed creditably during the coup d'etat. He listed Jones P Madeira and Dominic Kalipersad, who were at TTT at the time, whom, he said, didn't seem intimidated as they passed on information to the public as demanded by Bakr and his men who had seized the station and taken them hostage. Johnson saluted his own colleagues at the Express at the time and the Guardian's Gail Alexander for their coverage of the event. Recalling some of his own experiences, he said he was deemed unpatriotic by government MPs at the time because he asked if former national security minister Selwyn Richardson was going to resign and other questions about the uprising.