Absence of the voice of the people is symbolic of collective insanity

Jun 02, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result every time.
I have come to recognise and not only are we suffering from collective insanity as a people but we are also fatally disillusioned with politics and much of what constitutes life in Guyana.
There are many synonyms for the word disillusion, you have disenchanted, disappointed, let down, embittered and so on. These are all adjectives which aptly describe the collective feelings of most Guyanese at home and abroad. Most of us are disappointed because we know that the officials we elected to office since 1966 have robbed (the Hoyte Administration being least), lied and cheated, physically brutalized to the point where we not only fell powerless, but we resort to self- hate.
In the election season of 2011, you would think that the people of Guyana would identify common issues and come together peacefully to let their voices be heard loud and clear but this is not the case.
Politicians past and present and political operatives of various political parties dominate the media landscape with their myopic and self-interested views. To readers of this article it the job of politicians and political agents to make things look good, when they are not and to spread lies, rumours and mistruths so as to confuse the masses. They engage in such behaviour because it continues to divide us and drive fear in us which makes us easier to rule, persuasion and marginalisation by them.
In 2011, we will hopefully go to the polls and vote for government officials we feel best represent us; those who have committed to address our concerns, functioning with integrity and implementing equitable systems and procedures to ensure that all Guyanese benefit from social and economic development.
Mr. Editor please forgive my brutal frankness, but we as a people must be really stupid, lazy and/or insane to keep doing the same thing over and over again, with the expectation that over the next five years the results will be different. That is going to the polls and voting for people that continue to promise us prosperity, security, higher disposable income and better living standards when year after year they continue to rob us, cheat us, steal from us and our children, facilitate corrupt practices of the police and army, terrorize innocent young men, use their power and privilege to rape and abuse young women, instill fear in political activists that work to expose corruption for the benefit of this nation and the list goes on.
Basically we vote for a group of ‘thieves’ that could not care less about us. Guyanese wake up and see that these officials are more concerned about using the office of government for privileged access to resources for themselves, their families, close friends and long-term supporters. After we cast our vote for a group we think best represents us as opposed to a group that has the skills, integrity and will of the people at heart above and beyond their political rule, we will complain for another five years as if these things just happen and we had nothing to do with it.
This is why I suggest that we are insane, etc. because no right thinking and energized people would continue to engage in self-destructive practices when they have the opportunities to do otherwise.
Tell me, is it progress of development or progress when some sections of the population are deliberately made to suffer more that others, the working class cannot negotiate for better working and living conditions without the threat of political wrath and through a leader that has not sold the integrity of her/his office to the ruling party, every single year droves of Guyanese seek out employment and better life opportunities in the Caribbean, North America, Europe and we will soon be able to add China to the list, a blind eye is turned to drug trafficking their by facilitating international transshipment of illegal narcotics, murders, acts of horrific violence and horrifying road fatalities are not the exception but the norm, wanton government corruption goes on in the open and nothing is done by government to curb this practice that steals from the pockets of citizens, police brutality and abuse of power is commonplace, a significant amount of rice paddy continues to be dried along heavily traversed roadways in Berbice and Essequibo, we continue to have a one party takes all system and an executive presidency, a failed system of parliamentary representation, a state media that is politically controlled and partial to the peddling the views of government and the ruling party and again the list goes on. Guyana needs to break away from its political past, our people need to open our minds and realise that we will all drown together if the current state of affairs of national governance and inequitable socio-economic development does not improve.
Willing but disillusioned young Guyanese

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