Is Volda Lawrence’s laurentian impetus at an end?

Mar 24, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

My answer is no. And it should not be. Not in the context of the people in authority and status that we have to live with in this country. I begin this discussion on the Volda Lawrence imbroglio with a caveat. I am a strong endorser of the activism of Red Thread. I believe the activism of its leader, Karen De Souza and her group is sound and is in the right directions. Activists like De Souza do not protect sacred cows (I hope).
But Red Thread’s call for the resignation of Minister Lawrence over her reaction on the child abuse allegations against councillor-elect, Harding has to be contexualized
If Lawrence is made to resign then why should Bharrat Jagdeo remain as Leader of the Opposition? That is a very important constitutional office. It carries a higher salary than Lawrence’s. It carries enormous political punch. Mr. Jagdeo, when President, refused to legalize his partnership with Ms. Varshnie Singh even though both Jagdeo and Ms. Singh used the term First Lady, countless times to refer to Ms. Singh. In thousands of instances, Ms. Singh was referred to as the President’s wife. At no time in those instances was there an Office of the President correction.
Ms. Singh made public accusations against President Jagdeo that were not equivalent or amounted to domestic abuse but was unadulterated domestic abuse. Such odious conduct in office would have caused loss of the presidency in a majority of countries. Mr. Jagdeo carried on in power and even became the de facto president when Donald Ramotar became de jure president from 2011 to 2015. It could be perceived as double standards to have Minister Lawrence step down while Jagdeo sits as Opposition Leader in the House.
One could forgive the Minister of Labour or Housing if he entered the home of the US Ambassador and behaved in a deplorable manner literally insulting the envoy on the occasion to mark his country’s Independence. But not the Minister of Education. The Labour Minister does not interface with the young generation within the age groups of one to 18, the Minister of Education does.
As Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, a lawyer, behaved in atrocious ways that should have seen her banished from her portfolio and Parliament. She wasn’t. This lady who is now mocked on social media as “satyra gyaal” sits in Parliament as Shadow Minister of Education. Is it right for Guyana to reclaim the ministerial portfolio from Ms. Lawrence while Manickchand remains a Parliamentarian?
I have been in political activism my entire life. The most obnoxious, offensive, philistine, unacceptable human I have ever encountered in politics is BIbi Shadick. I come from South Georgetown where good manners were hardly recognized much less embraced, yet I have never seen gutter-like behaviour in South Georgetown from our women folks in Wortmanville as I have seen with Ms. Shaddick.
Shaddick holds the office of Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana. That has to be the greatest insult to this nation since the Dutch arrived here. Ms. Shaddick has status to her name. She also possesses the constitutional title of Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission. Is there a Guyanese out there except from within the ranks of the PPP, who would accept the resignation of Ms. Lawrence while Shaddick remains as Pro-Chancellor of UG?
How Red Thread deals with these issues I have raised in this column I don’t know but this I know – Red Thread is making a valid point and I could understand its angst. But for me context is everything in life. Without context we cannot understand the complexities of life and I believe Red Thread as a group of feminists do understand context. Surely, women have to defend themselves from sadistic husbands who have been indoctrinated by male-dominated history to think that women are inferior to women so they mistreat them.
I think in the context of this kind of flawed epistemology, women have a right to defend themselves against cruel husbands. As a juror in a murder trial, it would be difficult for me to convict a woman who killed a recalcitrant, drunken, violently abusive husband. This is what I mean by context.
Ms. Lawrence should apologize, clarify her feminist conceptualizations and move on. If Red Thread insists she has lost her moral right to be a minister then context would be the deciding factor for me. And if I had to cast my opinion as if she should resign, then my arguments as presented in this column would be my answer.

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Is Volda Lawrence’s laurentian impetus at an end?

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