Which crew should the people choose?

Feb 15, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s column, “Harry Gill’s hariolation on a bennettitaceous performance in Guyana”
Freddie’s humongous appetite for the use of ‘big’ words never ceases to amaze me; the man is like a walking dictionary. However, his fondness for the use of the word “bennettitaceous” as was used in his previous articles, “Benn’s benthoscope and Guyana’s bennettitaceous dictatorship” (May 17, 2010) and “Nicole Ming’s minglements: Is there a bennettitaceous angle?” (KN May 24, 2010), confirms the wisdom of the KISS principle commonly used in sales presentation: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
With the exception of a book by Armen Takhtajan entitled “Flowering Plants”, in which reference is made to “the fossil bennettitaceous genus Wielandiella”, not even Wikipedia could find a dictionary result for Kissoon’s favourite word, “bennettitaceous”, although the Concise Encyclopedia Biology by Thomas Scott, describes “Bennettitatae” as an extinct class of pinnate-leaved gymnosperms, with single stalked ovules borne directly on the floral axis.
Freddie may wish to keep this in mind the next time he gets the urge to use this word.
But to address his criticism of my letter, “An analysis of the way things are” (Kaieteur News, Feb. 4), I must first express my appreciation to him for the tone of civility used. I do not always agree with Freddie’s views and opinions, but I have tremendous respect for what he does: Putting his safety and credibility on the line every day to defend the rights of the Guyanese people, as he believes.
However, to best illustrate my analysis and prediction of a PPP/C victory later this year, here is an analogy any kindergarden can understand:
Suppose the Guyanese people bought a ship called ‘Guyana’ from the British at an auction called ‘Independence’, and employed a crew called the ‘PNC’ to take this vessel safely to a destination called ‘Progress’.
While in route, they went off course, encountered stormy weather, lose some cargo and suffered damages. After making several stops along the way at ports called ‘Elections’, the crew failed to properly repair the damages to ‘Guyana’ but was successful at retaining control of this vessel through a process called rigging, causing major delays that prevented them from reaching destination ‘Progress’. Then one day, the Guyanese people got angry and gave control of ‘Guyana’ to another crew called ‘PPP’. At first, the new crew thought it would have been easy to make ‘Guyana’ seaworthy again, but they soon found this to be difficult. For years, they struggled and encountered very similar problems to that of the ‘PNC’: stormy seas, the loss of some cargo, and structural damages. However, at every election port, they were able to show some results, although not at the pace they had hoped, and certainly not the cost the Guyanese people had expected to pay in joblessness, higher taxes and crime.
‘Guyana’ is now approaching another ‘Election’ port, and the captain will not be continuing this voyage… his time is up. The ‘PNC’ crew wants the Guyanese people to put them back in charge of the vessel, convinced that ‘Guyana’ will not reach its destination under a new ‘PPP’ captain. Problem is, they’re yet to admit running ‘Guyana’ aground in the first place and that crew does not seem to have the navigational charts to get us there. The ‘PPP’ is equally convinced that Guyana will remain safe and on course with their new captain at the helm. But there is another crew jumping up and down, crying out for attention… the ‘AFC’.
This crew shows potential, but desperately short of manpower to weather the storm. In fact, apart from the captain and a few members, the rest of the ‘AFC’ does not inspire much confidence.
With “Guyana” making slow but sure progress, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine which course is best: Through trial and error, ‘Guyana’ now appears to be on course. It therefore defies logic to replace this crew with one without the appropriate navigational charts, or with the ‘AFC’ that have never sailed the rough seas but feels confident that they could. The objective is to reach destination ‘Progress’ in as little time now as possible; without hitting sand-banks and running aground again. Given all that we know, which crew should the Guyanese people choose?
Harry Gill

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