The opposition in Guyana has become moribund and obsolete

Sep 27, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Kaiteur News editorial lamenting the MIA political opposition in Guyana, in the face of revelations of corruption, nepotism and gross indecency, is squarely on the mark.
If this is the kind of representation the 44% who elected the opposition into parliament can expect from those favoured with their vote, and who are being handsomely compensated for being there, then woe unto Guyana should they ever get into office. It is a monumental sin that opposition activism in Guyana has retrogressed to what we are experiencing here today. And the blame for this has to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the leader of the main opposition, Mr. Robert Corbin.
Mr. Corbin, it would appear, seem to be subscribing to the anachronistic notion that the only tool available to fight a regime bent on hegemonic control of all aspects of society, and the implementation of a two-tier social order consisting of the equals and the less equals, is mass demonstrations.
Therefore, because this has been used as a means to cast a negative light upon his party, the only remaining recourse is the issuance of intermittent press statements that few pay any attention to any more. Mr. Corbin needs to get up from his sit upon and do what he was sent to parliament to do.

And if for whatever reason he finds himself ill-equipped or incapable of doing thus, then he should jettison his “dog in the manger” hold upon that organization, and allow leadership with ideas and belly to step forth and provide Guyana with the kind of opposition leadership it is in dire need of.
Imagine, single individuals like Mark Benschop, who was wrongfully incarcerated for over five years as a political prisoner, and Fredrick Kissoon who writes a daily column for one of the independent dailies, have done more to highlight and expose political, social and economic abuses than an opposition leader who is being paid to do just that.
Mr. Benschop, with the limited resources at his disposal, besides offering educational and economic succor to those who have become collateral flotsam to the policies of the current regime, was able to use his ingenuity to establish an internet radio station that allows the diaspora and home bound population to learn about issues that would never be aired by the publicly financed but partisanly monopolized, state owned media.
The fact that a political organization that has been in Guyana’s politics from time immemorial is being out done by Benschop, in terms of getting past the state imposed embargo on truthful information, suggest that the leadership of such organization has become moribund and obsolete.
I can remember as a little boy walking in Main Street clutching the hand of my mother and espying Eusi Kwayana fasting and pacing up and down in front of the Governor’s Mansion in protest against Monarchial and Imperial oppression.

Mr. Corbin, how about taking a leaf from his book and planting yourself down in front of Freedom House, Parliament Building, the Office of the President, the US Embassy, or even the United Nations in New York, in order to bring attention to the fusillade of wrong doings and abuses that seem to be perpetual occurrences under the current regime.
Because mass protests have become strategic liabilities Mr. Corbin, you don’t get a pass for doing nothing. Leadership, by its very nature, as my good friend Emile Mervin once put it, implies a relationship of servant hood.
You need to disabuse yourself from the notion that this struggle is about you becoming President and the PNC getting back into power, and become acquainted with the ethical argument that it is about freedom, equality under the law, fairness and balance in all spheres of the social and economic order, and the true manifestation of our motto of One Nation, One People, and One Destiny.
Robin Williams

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The opposition in Guyana has become moribund and obsolete

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