Vishwamintra Persaud and You – a case of decency

Nov 17, 2010 Letters

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Dear editor,
What is the Vishwamintra Persaud case really about? Is it about a child molester vs. a brilliant doctor? A man being framed vs. implementation of the Sexual Offences Act?  What Madan Rambarran and the Medical Council knew vs. what they didn’t? Karma vs. giving a person another chance? One child vs. many; your child vs. mine? The answer is all of that and none of that.
What it’s actually about, in my opinion, is *you*. Yes, you- the man/woman reading this right now. I know some of you are saying- “I don’t have any children”, or “I would make sure I watch my child all the time and don’t leave them alone with anybody”, or even “The man got connections; nothing’s gonna happen to him.” Here’s where *you* come in.
What kind of society do *you* want to live in? What values do you live your life by? What lessons are you teaching the children around you?
Do you want to live in a society where women and children are abused with impunity on a daily basis, where rapists walk the streets freely? Wait, that already happens in Guyana. Well, how do you feel about that? Do you mind? Do you want your children to live in a world like that?
Of course not; most of us are decent people and we love our children and want the best for them. That includes a life without rape or abuse.
To get that kind of life/society, however, *you* have to do something. You have to stand up for yourself and the children, you have to speak out when you see injustices and things you don’t agree with, and you have to act to help change the things that you think are messed up. You cannot just sit back and think that somebody else is going to fix it for you.
Vishwamintra Persaud might be a good doctor. There were also lots of brilliant doctors and scientists working in the Nazi regime for Hitler, torturing and murdering people. The point is that being good at your job ‘does not’ exempt you from the rules that all the rest of society has to follow.
It’s about the standards that we as a society accept and allow. There are already too many known abusers, rapists and predators in positions of power in Guyana.
If we want this to change, we need to do more than just bemoan that fact. Otherwise we are just as guilty as they are for violating and letting down the women and children of Guyana.
Plus when other would-be abusers look around and see the others getting away scot-free, nothing’s going to stop them. It’s already that way now; do we really want it to get worse?
To all the people who’re saying that Guyana needs doctors and if they had a sick child they would go to Dr. Persaud- let me ask what you would have done before this man started working at GPH?.
Obviously, you would have dealt with whatever doctor was available. True, Guyana desperately needs properly trained doctors and nurses- especially at the Georgetown Public Hospital where most people access care and where maternal mortality rates are way too high.
However, we as a people need to stand up for ourselves and insist on higher standards! Just as we should not use other countries expired goods or get sold their damaged machines, just so we should not accept care from people that other countries have convicted as sex offenders.
Parents cannot protect or be at their children’s side all the time. A predator who wants to prey will find the opportunity to do so. And if not your child, then someone else’s. A hospital is the perfect hunting grounds for it’s someplace where people are at their most vulnerable, and conversely, doctors at their most powerful.
Allowing a convicted sex offender in that position is like allowing the fox to go into the hen house. Madan Rambarran and anybody else who knew about Persaud’s record and still allowed him to work there deserve to be fired and themselves charged for child endangerment, in
my opinion.
Again, it’s about the kind of society we want to live in. Once we knowingly condone, protect, defend, and celebrate sexual abusers/child predators and put them in positions of power, we are signing the death warrant of all that is good and decent in society.
If we don’t care because it’s not our child, we’re already zombies and no amount of prayer can save us.
This case is a litmus test for what we are willing to put up or not put up with. You get what you ask for; you don’t just take what you can get. We need to respect and love ourselves and our children and demand better! We deserve better.
No convicted sex offenders in our public hospitals or anywhere else for that matter!
Let us not stand by silently while injustice is being perpetuated in our country. Let us fight for our rights, for a better society for our children, for all the children of Guyana. Make your voice heard.
Take action. Support each other; together we can change things for the better.
S. Nageer

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