Cringeworthy overtures, lofty rhetoric and nonexistent inclusivity

Aug 11, 2015 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I sat in the auditorium of the National Cultural Centre last Sunday, as an invitee to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s annual Jalsa Salana celebrations, and heard Mayor Hamilton Green make a pitch to the remigrant community. He promised that those returning for the Jalsa Salana celebrations next year will see a beautiful, clean city, and one that is safe from crime.
The Mayor’s overture comes on the heels of the much hyped and well attended event that Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Tourism Minister Cathy Hughes, recently had in Canada, where Guyanese of the Canadian diaspora were introduced to the plans and objectives of the new administration.
Honestly, I cringe every time I hear these high-sounding overtures that the Guyanese politicians make to folks in the diaspora. I cringe because I feel like a victim and a pawn to such lofty rhetoric. I left Guyana as a teen, in 1986, and ever since then I have been hearing calls for Guyanese to return home.
Many Guyanese, including me, have heeded those calls only to be stunningly disappointed.
The truth is that many of us came home only to realize that while millions are spent on the trips and events to lure us into returning home, nothing is done to facilitate our return. So we return only to realize that we are subjected to the same requests for bribes, criminal onslaught, red-tape and entrenched mediocrity that permeates the Guyana public and private sectors.
One of the realities that face the returning Guyanese is the fact that except you publicly and openly admit your loyalty to the governing party, your inclusion into the solution to Guyana’s problems and your upward mobility is protractedly stymied. So the call to “return home” is not an all-inclusive call, but rather, it’s a call made really to those who are willing to subscribe to the ideologies of the ruling party. There is a saying that the Guyanese government makes politicians out of professionals. This must not be said of the new administration.
I noticed that in the report of the events surrounding the most recent Canadian visit by the new administration, there was no representation from the Ministry of Social Cohesion. Given the fact that the members of the Guyanese diaspora in Canada are heavily dominated by our Indian brothers and sisters; many of whom would be sympathetic to the previous administration, maybe a presentation from that strategic Ministry was in order.
Citizens of the diaspora need to know that their acquiescence to return and develop Guyana will in no way be tied to any political pettiness and ideological backwardness. This new administration needs to assure the diaspora that they are beyond any behaviour that is patriotically and developmentally inimical. Under this new administration, the calls for Guyanese to return home need to be void of any party entrapments or victimization.
Additionally, there needs to be a clearly defined and articulated process on how best Guyanese can return home.  When I returned home seven years ago, I was almost victimized for doing so. From the time I arrived I announced that I was a minister of the gospel, a trained prison chaplain and criminologist, with a desire to help my country. Yet folks wanted to know why I returned home. Some treated me as if they suspected I wanted their jobs or positions. It was as if one is only expected to return to Guyana after being deported. Even after all the calls for Guyanese to return home and help, I found that I was never welcomed and that my knowledge and expertise were spurned.
If the Government will invite folks to leave their lives and jobs to return home, there will have to be a formal structure in place to facilitate those who accept the call. Those returning will need to know that they will not be forced to the back of the line or otherwise maligned and victimized by acts of professional jealously, or political narrow-mindedness.
Some kind of skeleton staff with unbridled access to key Ministries also needs to be in place to handle the requests of those returning.  The logistical red-tape for business applications, registrations, licences, land, etc., will have to be significantly truncated, so as to expedite the ventures of the remigrants.
What will also be very appealing to those open to returning home is a clearly constructed approach to dealing with the crime situation. This new administration needs to bombard the diaspora with plans on how the Government will tackle crime. While in Canada, Minister Harmon stated that “the Government, even though it is only a few months old, was already putting systems in place to ensure transparency and accountability in every sector”. This is very commendable in the eyes of the diaspora. However, plans to deal with the menace of the blue collar (street) crimes need to be as clearly addressed and articulated.
The diaspora needs to know if there will be stringent mandatory sentencing for gun-related crimes. Will there be zero tolerance on crimes committed on tourists and those from the diaspora? Will there be priority given to criminal acts perpetuated on returnees? Is there a clearly defined anti-crime initiative? Etc.
If Guyanese in the diaspora are to heed the calls and return home in droves – not only to fête, party and celebrate, but to live and invest – the new administration will have to go beyond the mere expensive rhetoric. They will have to put systems and policies in place to satisfy even the most cautious immigrant Guyanese. I am confident that Guyanese want to come home. I did, and there are many more like me, though some are not as bold and risky.
And while the new administration continues to woo those currently in the diaspora, there are some here already, who heeded the call from the last administration to return home and who would like to know if there is room for them at the table. Or do we need to leave Guyana, again, and await another formal invitation from this new Government?
Pastor Wendell Jeffrey
Founder and President
Practical Christianity Ministries, International

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