Do not only criticise, suggest solutions and remedies

Jun 05, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Henry Ford, one of the greatest businessmen of the United States and the creator of assembly line production back in the early 1900s with the great selling ModelT Ford automobile, once said: “Don’t only find fault – find a remedy”, and the problems with a lot of the Op-Ed (opposite the Editorial) writers who appear in SN or Kaieteur News do not really follow Ford’s dictum and instead just criticise everyone or anything, which they disagree with without offering any viable solutions to the problems they’re focusing on.
As was pointed out by a friend of mine who lives in California, solutions and remedies are the only way to go; he also pointed out that the term Op-Ed is the American term for opinion pieces in the press.
In the present political atmosphere in Guyana, most of our citizens already know, from firsthand experience, which are the problems facing all of us, and Mr. Editor, believe me, most of them also know the solutions to those problems in more ways than one, and indeed, their solutions are sometimes more sensible than those which our leaders come up with.
Take crime, and take the statement which Mr. Donald Ramotar made in reference to establishing SWAT teams in the Guyana Police Force if he becomes President; will the citizens buy that as one solution for battling crime?
There is already criticism out there concerning Mr. Ramotar’s statement, but to debunk such an idea, the writer needs to show how the fight against criminal activity can only be bettered by much more substantial efforts to create better paying jobs, better training for such jobs, more foreign investment and trade to create more jobs, governmental incentives, like lowering taxation to widen the scope of the local private sector, and on the other hand, to maximize the extent of punishment for criminal activity, like ensuring the death penalty, witness protection, plea bargaining and even prison with hard labour.
So, Mr. Ramotar’s statement becomes problematic for him because the record on crime for the present government is one devoid of the general economic pre-conditions for good jobs and less crime.
The record over 19 years in government by the PPP administration tells the story.
Will SWAT teams help fight crime? Yes, it will but not without good incentives for our youth to choose another route in their lives by getting a decent job which can come about by following the factors listed above.
Mr. Editor, criticising an issue or a person in public life is good if it is healthy criticism, but remedial solutions have to be advanced, so that the readers who are also voters, can discern what is valid in his/her reasoning and come up with a clear understanding of what is indeed possible to make our lives as citizens of Guyana, a better one.
There are certain ‘columnists’ and Op-Ed writers like Mr. Frustration himself, ‘Fredi’ Kissoon, who spout only negative criticism and provide not a single answer to the problems they focus on; that is not what the free press should encourage because it sends the wrong message, especially to our youth who have to be brought up in a culture of forensic analysis and criticism, healthy discussion of pertinent issues facing this nation and most importantly, perceived solutions to the myriad of problems facing all of us who want a Guyana moving forward to a place in the sun and reaching for the stars.
Mr.Editor, ‘columnists’ like ‘Fredi’ Kissoon are really just haters, hell-bent on editorial anarchy, trying to confuse the public and offering nothing of substance to solve our serious problems.
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr.)

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