The people must restrain the PPP from doing further damage to Guyana

Sep 30, 2014 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
A wise government knows how to enforce with temper, or to conciliate with dignity, but an unwise government is odious in the former, and contemptible in the latter. The PPP government fits the latter explanation, in that it is wicked and unrighteous.  It is a rapacious and unconscionable imposer of false claims on those who criticize and expose its corrupt practices and spiteful actions. It is principally a predatory beast, especially against the publisher and editor-in-chief of Kaieteur News.
For years, hundreds of Guyanese have been maimed, killed and/or otherwise emotionally and physically ruined by the Police. The vast majority of them are Afro-Guyanese youths who have been easy prey for the police in their quest to solve crimes. Many are convicted of criminal acts because they were beaten by the police to confess to crimes they did not commit.
Like some elements of the police, many in the ruling cabal have placed themselves above the law – evidently situated themselves with the imprimatur of government on untouchable, unreachable pedestals as barons, gods, knights and kings. The minority PPP regime has not only challenged but has also rejected every statement, bill and motion put forth by the majority opposition in Parliament. It has usurped the Constitution, compromised the judiciary and ignored the wishes of the people. In short, it is a contemptuous group.
These manifestations are clear reminders that this government has no shame and quite frankly cares not about the people. What is even more disgraceful is that it is robbing the taxpayers and is taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Not only that, it has abused the human rights of those who criticized it and has continued to marginalize the second largest ethnic group in the country and has permanently destroyed the lives of many innocent citizens.
This kind of treatment is a regular occurrence. It is cruel.
However, its hierarchy is busy protecting the party’s members and supporters and preserving the status quo.  The question is when will ordinary Guyanese realize that this type of cruel treatment meted out to critics of the regime today, in all probability, will happen to them tomorrow if they do not stand up and defend the human rights abuses by the ruling cabal. Justice is the last bastion of protection for the poor and oppressed people in any country, and Guyana is no exception.
In a self-respecting, decent society, government would hold its head in shame if it does something wrong; but no, not this shameless, boorish and rotten regime. If the behaviour of the PPP cabal is not reprehensible, then what is? Anyone who is not mortified by the cruel and barbaric actions of the PPP regime should be reminded of what would happen to Guyana if they continue to remain silent when their neighbours are being victimized, only to realize later that their silence was the cause of it.
The problem in Guyana is the acceptance of ghetto standards from the wretched administration and the concomitant acceptance of such low standards of the people. This is the curse facing the country.
Billions of dollars in debt, increasing crime and violence, gut-wrenching poverty spreading throughout the country, runaway corruption, skullduggery, abuse of the rule of law, contempt for the Constitution, disrespect for the people, anemic economic growth and the people’s collective willingness to accept gutter standards from this unrighteous regime is pathetic.
Unless the people get to the point where they realize that they need to practically concern themselves with the injustice and unfairness that is meted out to the poor and oppressed on a daily basis – those who are not on first-name basis with ministers of government and politicians, those who cannot afford high-priced lawyers, those who generally do not have the social, economic and power connections that typically decide who gets what, where, when and how in Guyana – then they must continue to expect higher levels of crime and violence, rampant corruption, higher personal security costs and greater diminution in their collective standards of life.
Thomas Jefferson said, “No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.”
The people must restrain the PPP from doing further damage to Guyana.
Derrick Arjune
Asha Balbachan
Rohit Misir
Harish Singh
Chandra Deolall
Asquith Rose
Vincent Nauth
Allison Rutherford
Devita Khan
Dr. Reginald Watkins
Donna Mathoo
Noel Moses
Vicki Rampersaud
Dr. Merle Spenser-Marks

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