Latest update June 13th, 2026 12:40 AM
‘Do so not like so’
DEAR EDITOR,
Kwame McCoy waxes pontificatingly about the right and propriety of criticism of the judiciary, as a means of, and here he purloins Justice Chang’s point in his initial response, maintaining a distance between the executive and the judiciary.
What makes these lofty arguments facetious, however, is that those on whose behalf he is advancing this argument are themselves, arguably, the least tolerant of any criticism of their policies and decisions.
Remember the Calypso of the early to mid sixties? I think it went something like, quote, “if yo can’t tek de goods dat yo dishing good Lord stop de lashing”, or words in that context.
The chorus culminated with the line “do so no like so”. And nothing more appropriately illustrates the arrogant prism through which some proceed to offer analysis of issues as they arise in Guyana.
How in heaven’s name can anyone who bristles and lashes out when criticisms are flung in their direction defend their rights to criticise others? But then again, it is a case of equal to do, and more equal to do more.
Mr. McCoy states, “Too often there appears to be little consideration for public interest and victim dilemma when those accused of serious crimes are allowed freedom in the name of their constitutional rights”.
Surely he jests. What about consideration for public interest of the victims of crimes of torture?
The last I heard was that the public was more interested in the delicacies of their barrels than these weighty ethical matters.
In a vacuum of competent accounting and scrutiny, these facetious arguments continue to be advanced in the public space by those for whom recognition of truths, the rule of law, constructive criticism, and so on and so forth, are influenced by agency of political correctness and convenience.
They continue to parse crime in a manner that re-victimizes those victims they have positioned at the margins of their attention span.
They wax indignantly about the rule of law when the disobedience is on part of protesters’ violations of assigned routes, but virtually blanks out its existence when the victims do not fit the profile they deem worthy of empathy.
Like a light bulb that can be switched on and off at will, they preach from mountain tops when the circumstances of an event or occasion has partisan political mileage, but remain dim or tenebrous when the opposite obtains.
Borrowing from some of the words of Kwame McCoy: “it is a most odious position to presume to lecture people about being intolerant to criticism of one level of government, while playing “Bo Peep” to the myriad of exhibitions of like intolerance from other levels, to wit, both the Executive Branch and the civilian executive of Law Enforcement”.
What about the “framework of transparency and accountability” solidified in the roles of these two latter functionaries? And herein reside the conundrum of Guyana’s politics.
These nebulous arguments, if advanced in many other political and social theatres, would have the audience gasping with amazement at the chutzpah that has to be the impelling operant behind them.
Robin Williams
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