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The concerns of the majority must be the concerns of all

Jan 05, 2013 Letters

 

 

DEAR EDITOR,
Before the year gets a day older and quickly fades out of its embryonic stage of newness, I pen these words with the hope that this New Year will be one in which freedom; equality; justice and prosperity for all will be experienced in our country.
It is time for the people of Guyana – all races, class and status – to take up that right to recall government to their duty and their obligation, and above all, to exercise that right to share in the decisions of government – decisions which shape our lives, everything that make one’s life worthwhile such as family, work, education, how we raise our children and how we rest our heads.
We as Guyanese must be conscious and cognizant of the ever-present fact that it is the government of the day that shapes one’s life with the decisions ‘we’ as a people allow it to make. When as a people we fail to act and demand these elected servants of government, it only empowers them to not heed to the demands of the people. This is why we as citizens must make it our essential responsibility for our voices be heard and be heeded to. We must ensure that this essential right to be heard is not limited to just the wealthy, or those of a particular race, religion or party affiliation, but to all Guyanese. As citizens, we must ensure that we limit the powers of government to act against its people in ways that may affect their livelihood and safety. To ensure also that no arbitrary imposition of brutality or penalty on an ordinary citizen by high or low ranking government official or worker occurs.
We as a people must not allow in this New Year what has been constant by government, to let the gap of promises and performance to continually widen. We cannot allow government to act with painful slowness in making the lives of all Guyanese better.
Let us in this new year, be consistent in ensuring that government officials and those who represent the interest of people are constantly reminded of their primary and fundamentally responsibility, which is to serve the interests of the people. We must ensure that government recognizes the full human equality of all citizens, not because it will be advantageous for Guyana, not because we as Guyanese wish it so, or because it is the will of God for his creation, but because it is the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.
Let this New Year be one in which the concerns of the majority are the concerns of all. Government must cease to cling onto the views of the box that they are in; one that creates injustice to those that pose a different view. It also causes the repression of the people, where many are trapped in poverty and are unemployed, and where the wealth and riches of a few continue to grow. These different evils reflect the work of government and an ineffective opposition. It also reflects the lack of inadequacy of human compassion and justice.
The time has come for all Guyanese to wake up and become intelligently independent enough to think for themselves and not allow the government or the opposition to hoodwink and bamboozle us with falsified information and propaganda. This thinking will allow all Guyanese to become truly first class citizens in our land. It will also allow us to demand that government serve not self-interest or the interest of its cronies, but the interest of all natives.
The power of the people, according to Wael Ghonim, is greater than the people in power.
Jermaine Figueira

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