Thoughts of a true Guyanese

Dec 16, 2017 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
All governments lie to some extent, and all governments withhold certain information from the citizens when it’s necessary for national security and the wellbeing of those citizens. And for those who think that the actions and reactions that led to physical confrontations in the National Assembly on December 11th are uncommon, I challenge you to look at a few videos on YouTube and you will see that it’s quite common, even in so called developed countries. Some even see it as a natural consequence of the democratic process.
However, what is clear, is that the citizens of Guyana are still not seeing what is really at play here, and we get caught up in the smoke screens and mirror games presented to us by an “elite few”, who continue to short change the citizens of the true wealth of the nation – sell us dreams while they continue to stir up racial tensions as a continued distraction from the fact that no matter which side of the divide they pretend to be on (PPP or APNU), they all continue to get rich, while ordinary citizens continue to struggle for an existence, in a land that has far more than enough for us all.
And unlike those who are entrenched behind one political line or the other, those who are neutral like me, can look and see that there isn’t any real difference between the two major political parties; both have some positives, and a lot of negatives.
As someone who is neutral, (having no special preference for any particular political party), and non-racist (believing that all men are equal, and what makes us different is not the colour of our skin but the content of our hearts), I believe that there is a place for all Guyanese right here. In fact, what makes us special, what really is our greatest strength, is our diversity. And no time is that made clearer than at Christmas time. We are truly one people, with one destiny.
But instead of making strides to reinforce those facts by behaving like we are one nation, the political leaders on both sides of the divide continue to deepen the racial wounds, all to their benefit. I hold them all responsible. More than anyone else, they should have been far more cognizant of how their actions, and lack of protocol in the National Assembly, and the failure of anyone to even try and defuse the situation before it escalated, could add more fuel to an already volatile nation’s perception of its leaders, and each other.
The sugar industry is following the bauxite industry; thousands of sugar workers will lose their jobs at the most inopportune time of the year. Thousands of youth remain unemployed with no real opportunities for progress. The health, education and other critical sectors keep limping along through prayers. Public servants keep their fingers crossed as they look to their government for handouts to try and close the last two weeks of the year on a better note than they were able to live the preceding fifty.
All this while 18 million US$ is hid from the nation.
And in all this, the leaders continue to conduct themselves in a manner that is totally opposite to what this nation expects and needs.
This is not to justify the heavy handed actions of the police, who are really just another pawn in the political games. They were wrong to assault members of the House, but they are as much the victims as the rest of the nation. The real culprits are the political leaders, and the sooner we the people realize this fact, the sooner we can began to hold them accountable to the nation for their actions.
So the fiasco in the National Assembly on 12/11 might be disappointing, but the real tragedy is that we the people continue to sleep, while the politicians continue to enrich themselves.
My fellow Guyanese, wake up and see that whether we want to be one nation or not, we are one people with one destiny, and the only way we can demand better from our leaders, is if we stop falling prey to their trickery, and come together. Only then can we the people get what we deserve from our leaders, from the wealth of our country, and our true share of the US$18 million.
Sherwin Holder

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