Time for Guyanese to rise above race and politics

Jun 18, 2017 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
People who are hired during one administration should not be fired when that administration changes. The United Republican Party (URP) is concerned that several persons – both Afro and Indo-Guyanese – but mostly Indo-Guyanese, are being ousted from their jobs. One might argue that it can be racially biased for any political party to hire a disproportionate amount of party members and ethnically similar persons
What we are seeing in Guyana is a swinging of the pendulum, from one direction to the next, in order to right the PPP’s wrongs. During the PPP’s 23 years in governance, and there is ample proof that the Indian majority government showed preference to their Indian supporters. The most blatant evidence to that fact was when it was pointed out by Dr. Luncheon, that there was not a single Afro-Guyanese who served as Ambassadors for Guyana.
Additionally, most of the public services and state board’s jobs were stacked with Indians and PPP supporters. Also, many of the huge, multi-million contracts were also awarded to Indian owned businesses. This was all wrong behaviour on the part of the PPP and about which the URP spoke out against. However, many of these persons were not responsible for being hired. They have planned their lives around their jobs – some borrowed loans or have their children in private schools – and therefore it is unfair to arbitrarily fire these innocent people. They are merely collateral damage and are now suffering due to no fault of their own.
Are we to expect that if the PPP wins back the government that we will see the huge firing of those who were hired by the Coalition? This obvious political vindictiveness and blatant cronyism cannot benefit Guyana. There has to come a point in time where the politics in Guyana is left at the level of the politicians and those close to them. The URP is not naive to the point of not understanding that elections have consequences. However, the small man should not be caught up in the shuffle that happens every time there is a political shake up.
So we ask the Granger-led administration, in the interest of humanity and social cohesion, to immediately cease the practice of removing from office those who were hired by the previous administration. The country cannot move forward if we constantly mired in these petty, political practices from successive parties. We all know that this needs to stop.
The Granger administration accrued to themselves 16 Afro-Guyanese to serve as Permanent Secretaries and one, one single, Indo-Guyanese. And if you think that the current administration will lose any sleep over these revelations, then you must be naive. They never apologize for anything.
Similarly, do you think that the PPP lost any sleep over the story that Afro-Guyanese were not intellectual enough to serve in any country as Ambassadors of Guyana? Remember? Do you remember that when questioned about why there was not a single Afro-Guyanese serving as Ambassadors in the entire Foreign Service, Dr. Luncheon said, none of the Black Guyanese were intelligent enough? Yes. During the Jagdeo-led administration, the PPP hired only Indo-Guyanese to fill ambassadorial positions.
Now comes the (PNC) Coalition and we have the racial reverse of the PPP era. They have now hired just about all the Permanent Secretaries, most of whom are Afro-Guyanese. It would be very interesting to know (maybe, similarly, under oath), how the Coalition justifies this obvious imbalance. No doubt some brave journalist will ask the President or the Prime Minister to justify this racial inequity. However, it is obvious that not being under oath, they will use some trumped-up spin to wiggle their ways out of this.
It is these kinds of practices that have mashed up and stagnated our dear country over the past 50 years. Because what it does, is play to the racial bases of either of the main parties. The law of survival dictates that people will look out for their personal existence. So Blacks will continue to vote for a ‘Black’ administration because they see that the administration is hiring those who are predominantly Black. And Indians will continue to vote for the ‘Indian’ government because they see that that government is hiring mostly Indians.
This then perpetuates the destruction of the country because the elections are not about progress, or issues, or substantial matters of nationalistic development. The elections are reduced to mere ethnic and racial hegemony and survival. And if you think that Dr. Jagdeo and Brigadier Granger are not, fully, aware of these despicable realities, then you are either honestly ignorant or politically inept.
Dr. Vishnu Bandhu

Editor’s note: Minister Harmon in his post-Cabinet press briefing has addressed the issue of the 19 permanent secretaries. He said the government inherited many of these state officials; they were already in the public system. He went on to state that such persons are entitled to employment elevation. Please see the relevant reporting on this in our Saturday edition.

---

---