The Government is not the only actor in society

Jan 19, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I have not spoken to the major players in the PPP and the Guyana Government for over five years now, except for three of them with whom I have a confidential relationship. The last time Mr. Jagdeo and I talked was in 1999.
I believe that both the leadership of the PPP and Mr. Jagdeo have exhibited monumental impatience and colossal irritation at the double standards of the media, civil society and many other sectors of this land. The result is that the attitude of the rulers has hardened, and they feel we are biased people who are only out to get them.
I once did an essay on this page titled, “Feeding the PPP’s paranoia.” In that viewpoint, I observed that the Guyana Government is going to continue on its intransigent way because it does not see its critics as morally superior. I am fully aware that you cannot compare a commercial company, a private school or a private hospital, or a prominent NGO, to the state. The state is coterminous with the country.
The people who shape and direct are the people who direct the affairs of the nation. But why should we allow non-state actors to perpetuate unconscionable acts against those that they serve without intervening to force them to meet their obligations?
Why should we criticise City Hall, the way the Demerara Harbour Bridge is managed, or the behaviour of the police force, and not a private school or a city store or a large private company? How much justified criticism did we in the media and in civil society launch against wrong-doing by non-state actors in 2008?
You look around this country and you see falling standards that are unacceptable from private entities, and we refuse to castigate them.
I was in Republic Bank’s Water Street branch last week with William Cox and Catholic Standard’s editor, Colin Smith. This bank has hundreds of persons each day doing business.
Dozens of transactions take longer than 40 minutes, yet there are no washroom facilities. Because of security, banks cannot have washroom facilities inside their architecture. But they could be located at the front entrance before you enter the main area of operations. There is a comparison that can be made. Nigel’s Supermarket and the City Mall have public conveniences, with the latter charging $60 for usage.
Where is the voice of the Guyana Consumers’ Association? Does this entity still exist? Take private hospitals. Two of the longest standing private hospitals have no parking facilities for their customers.
If space is a problem, that is understandable; but, surely, St. Joseph’s and Woodland’s can landscape the public parapet in front of their services so the public can be facilitated. In the case of Woodland’s, when it rains there is absolutely no parking lot, just a muddy patch.
This particular hospital does brisk business and cannot claim slow turn-over as an excuse. Again, a comparison can be made. On Vlissengen Road, at Lamaha Street, there is an importation firm, “Cirkel.” That firm has paved the parapet to allow for parking.
Going further south, at Vlissengen and Duncan Street, the supermarket “Survival” did exactly the same thing.
I remember there were endless complaints, even from the media, about Guyanese visa applicants having to stand in the sun or the rain outside the US Embassy. The Embassy then built an air-conditioned waiting room with washrooms. So we harass those that have no obligation to us, but against the very entities that depend on our patronage we refuse to utter a word of condemnation.
Dozens of lawyers in this country lecture to us on the Government’s violation of the Constitution and the laws of Guyana, but lawyers in general refuse to pay taxes. We have not seen even a word of advice from the Bar Association that speaks to this immorality, not to mention criminality.
Do you see the Government to be a good guy while all around it sees the most unethical and illegal conduct coming from quarters that love to criticize it?
I remarked on more than three occasions that a well known hardware store has a policy of searching the purchases of its customers (not me; if it has something that other stores do not have, and I buy it there, they don’t dare go through my bags) yet the Guyana Consumers’ Association (GCA) refuses to act.
Dale Andrews and I went to Camp Site (of Banks DIH) and the cashier was mopping the floor. She went back to the cash register to make our bill, then she herself served us. That is the truth.
The GCA gets a yearly subvention from the Guyana Government; it should be stopped immediately. The GCA does not function.

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