We are all equal but some of us are more equal than others

May 28, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Marissa Lowden in the letters to editor section of the Guyana Chronicle of May 20, 2009 asserts that Government continues to commit to the working class of Guyana.
As evidence of this she contends, inter alia, that teachers recently received a five percent per annum across-the-board increase and an annual clothing allowance of $6000. I guess Ms. Lowden believes that five percent is a large increase and $6000 is enough to buy a few smart outfits.

However, what Ms. Lowden didn’t mention is that teachers like other public servants have not been able to freely negotiate collective agreements with this Government that continues to commit to the working class. One must note however, that the Government with the support of the PNC recently did show solidarity with the working class when in the Benefits for Former Presidents Bill, they ensured jobs for a few gardeners, drivers and attendants well into the future.

Will those workers have to pay taxes? The PNCR, which also touts its working class credentials, obviously engaged in quid pro quo arrangements, as its leader soon after was air dashed to the United States for treatment of an illness that is top secret. If Mr. Corbin was paying for that treatment then that may be fine, but when it is being paid for with taxes paid by teachers and others, the public has a right to know. What if he was air dashed to the US for something as trivial as plastic surgery?

Ms. Lowden, all of this transpired at the same time that a very sad story about one teacher, Ms. Shivanie Ganesh, was carried in Kaieteur News. Ms. Ganesh died after a few months of illness that doctors seem to think was dengue fever related. His father, Ramraj Ganesh, someone I grew up with at Unity Village, told reporter Dale Andrews that he had exhausted his savings in a desperate attempt to save his daughter.
Obviously “we are all equal but some of us are more equal than others.”
Jang B. Singh, Ph.D.