Where is the maturity among our so called leaders?

Sep 24, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In a letter written by Rayvonne P. Bourne the writer asks “Why is Dr Walter Rodney’s death being used for political gain”, (Kaieteur News, September 21 2010). This is a most apt question from the writer and it shows a very astute and vigilant reader who has recognised the situation for exactly what it is…cheap publicity and pandering.
Mr Roopnarine and his co-leader Dr. Clive Thomas are folks who have zero support from the Guyanese electorate and are largely ignored. This non-support has caused them to hitch their one-wheeled cart to the Big Tent posse hoping to capitalize on the political wind that may or may not have blown in from Port-of-Spain. These folks have all of a sudden become quite mobilised issuing press releases and commenting on everything from a pit bull attack to the wrong colour of flowers at Freedom house.
These two gentlemen are the same persons who, I am told, when approached to be elders and guide the two young AFC leaders they sat back laughed and described their guests as amateurs. Well the shoes seem to have switched feet after five short years, haven’t they?
Roopnarine would go to any event sponsored by anyone to speak so he can hear himself regardless of what it is all about. Most recently he was in New York at some gathering by some ex-PNC hacks who are also very vociferous advocates for the AFC to join the PNC (ha!) discussing a variety of topics on Guyana, yet another waste of time conference that served no purpose – just an ego inflating affair for Roopnarine and his hosts.  Many AFC leaders baulk at this useless affair for a variety of reasons, the most important being that the host and his colleagues are quite hostile to the AFC because they have a pro palm tree agenda they are passionate about and that we must respect.
Apparently just to hear himself, Roopnarine most recently astonishingly said he and the WPA bunch in 1980s were collecting arms and ammunition! I wonder if he is going to soon admit that he burned down Congress Place for which he was charged with arson. He has created so much antagonism within his Party, that disclaimers were almost immediate.
Getting back to the “tenters”, this is really what the “tenters” club is; it is a hodgepodge of ex-PNC folks and politicians who have done zero work in their communities but who think that because a coalition government was elected in Trinidad it somehow is a panacea and would work in every political dynamic.
They ignore the people of this country and citizens who are demanding an alternative choice to the status quo PNC and PPP dictatorships.
They ignore the core issues which the PPP and PNC have failed to deliver to the people of Guyana: a robust economy, a strong crime fighting and security infrastructure, a vibrant private sector who are not filled with rotten ropes tied to the government, a government who is not hell bent on destroying every private company not part of the friends and family club, curtail corruption, lower taxes and improve our
transportation sector to Essequibo and Lethem.
These folks have zero organisation, they make a ton of noise but when it comes to grass roots approach and having any connectivity with the people of this country it is non-existent.  This is one of the main reasons why they along with their “union leader” buddies have come out attacking the AFC and its leadership with fury.
The other side of this equation is the fact that many of these folks in the tent are willing to use the same methods that they accuse Jagdeo of, to attack honest, decent people who share a different opinion or a different approach from them.  They use the same vitriol à la Jagdeo to attack people they disagree with and stoop to the very same methods they accuse Jagdeo of.
These folks are the same ones who launched a massive attack on Sheila Holder who is a most honourable woman in this country that has been fighting for our people for as long as I can remember. What was the complaint? About some hideous nomination of some person Jagdeo nominated to serve in some useless position.
Apparently the nomination went through. They wanted Ms Holder to sit on top of parliament building and probably holler until the rainy season arrived.
In The US don’t Democrats and Republicans often join each other to approve nominations of people from various parties?
These are the same folks who attack Ms Holder because she has stated her preference for working with the people and for the people rather than marching down Regent Street in a cuss down protest. Now she is not saying that they should not do that she is just saying it is her preference and she is not going to do that. Where is the maturity in this country among our so called leaders that we cannot agree to disagree and just leave it at that?
So Mr. Editor, in closing, Roopnarine and the amateurs club are trying to become relevant again in time for elections and they are clawing and grasping at any issue to get their names in the newspapers and press to seem somewhat relevant.
The truth is, no one really cares about these chaps and they have not won the minds and hearts of our people.
They will suffer the same fate of the PPP and PNC. The people of this country will see right through them the way they have seen through Corbin and Jagdeo the two champions who can only agree to fatten their lifestyles, ignore laws they do not care for and continue to deprive the people of this country their democratic rights.
Name and address withheld

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