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Guyana: a dangerous country?

Mar 14, 2013 Letters

 

Dear Editor,
In my few years of living in this country, I have often questioned the general acceptance of mediocrity and widespread unprofessionalism evident in the society at large. It is indeed a classic situation that I believe facilitates the growth of an uncomfortable and unpredictably dangerous environment. In support of this position, several examples spring readily to mind. I will cite a few that I find particularly disturbing and which are practices that would not be accepted or go unchallenged in other societies.
I speak for instance of a Guyanese citizen whom, following injury and subsequent visits to three medical facilities, dies for lack of proper medical assistance. Then there was a story of a government official who walks into a national radio/TV station and demands, brazenly, that songs adjudged as winners of a national calypso competition, be removed from airplay. No prior consultation with legitimate bodies!
Just a move it seems, inspired by political whims and motives. In more organized societies, this would be the prerogative of an established Broadcasting Commission or at the very least, the ministry with responsibility for culture or information. Why the difference in Guyana?
I listened recently to a program entitled “Phadra’s Health, Wellness and Business” aired regularly on national TV. The program peddles products which the enthusiastic female presenter claims as virtual panacea for common but serious diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus, Parkinson’s, lupus erythematosus, kidney stones, hepatitis, cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Having worked in a medical facility, I know that many of these are chronic diseases that take years to develop. In most cases by the time they are manifest, irreversible damage would have been done to body tissues and systems.
While I question the qualifications of the presenters and the basis on which the curative properties of their products are founded, I find it insensitive and even cruel for programs to offer ‘remedies’ to desperate and unsuspecting persons in spite of no conclusive and empirical evidence to substantiate their claims. Here again, in other societies, such programs would be scrutinized, regulated and only aired if backed by sound scientific research and evidence. Short of that, strong legal repercussions would be faced by the TV or radio station.
More recently, the action of members of the national police force was quite disturbing. These ‘guardians of the society’ subjected a citizen and her child to brutal physical and mental abuse – the Marudi Trail beatings! I don’t know for sure if this is allowed under Guyana laws. If not, will anyone be held accountable? Certainly in other advanced societies, this would not go unchallenged.
What I find mind-boggling is the general disinterest demonstrated by the wider society. No collective show of disapproval. Most persons, thus far, seem insensitive to this insidious undercurrent of unprofessionalism and mediocrity. This I find dangerous.
B. O. Campbell

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