Community and Religious Leaders must make a stand

Apr 07, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I guess I really cannot help it, but I am following Guyana politics and its leading up to elections on May 11, as if it was a sporting event.
Despite my residing overseas, my interest stems from the fact that I am a diehard Guyanese from the core, beyond the shore and lots more. Admittedly, one gets the impression that I am a political junkie of sorts, and I’ll settle for that appellation.
Although I enjoy the strategy of politics, I have seen how it effortlessly manages to bring out the worst in us humans. The daily newspapers relentlessly inundate readers with juicy titbits, exposure of dastardly deeds, lascivious acts, sexual impropriety, racial undertones, underhand deals about the candidates, sometimes even infringing on the privacy rights of their spouses, ex-lovers, cohorts, consorts or other family members.
The list of misdeeds goes on ad infinitum. This is all designed and geared towards swaying the voter(s) towards a particular political party and candidate, while succinctly playing with their psyche.
It is blatantly apparent that the voting populace in Guyana has been beaten into a stupor, and the yet unsolved or not-to-be-resolved murder of political activist, Courtney Crum Ewing, serves as a further stupefying entity. While the political storm surges forward, and on the horizon the high stakes loom even higher —the poignant question that springs to the forefront of the mind of interested onlookers is: “where are the community leaders/ religious leaders in all this?” Are they as equally moribund as the citizens? Or has the situation reached the level of “everyman for himself, and God for us all?” The storm rageth, carest not thou that the nation perish?
Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States of America said, “Keep the Church and State forever separate.” Is this taking place in Guyana? Does the church have a role to play in leading the country towards racial reconciliation, diversity, and unity?
Everyone would agree that we need this now more than ever. Separation of church and state is an American concept that has been practiced in some countries, but is this the panacea for all countries?
Corruption is rampant in Guyana to the point where it has earned an indisputable place on the Top Ten Most Wanted List. In fact it is ranked first among the many other evils that have dogged this beleaguered nation. Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. Throughout history, churches have served as a place of worship and as a community bulletin, a people’s court, counselor and also as a place for political activism.
If a change is to come about on May 11, then the church and its leaders have an important part to play. We have seen, heard and read about the young people killing each other on the streets for the smallest slights, and the frequency is attaining further deadly proportions. And there is absolutely no doubt that currently this heady mix of youth disaffection, anger, poverty, poor parenting, educational underachievement and a lack of godliness and morality has combusted into a cocktail of public disorder. The church especially is a great tool for social transformation, and as such is desperately needed to bring about the change that all Guyanese need to see and can no longer wait for. Believe me, time is not on their side. .
As the clock slowly ticks and the calendar slowly slips unnoticed towards May 11, may all the events of the past, the dishonest actions, and strong-arming behaviour of the government spur the community and religious leaders into greater action, with unparalleled zeal and fervour, the likes of which has never been seen in the political history of my Guyana Eldorado.
Yvonne Sam

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