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Is challenging a Guyana-govt. minister a derogatory and disgusting thing to do?
New Ambassador of Cuba to Guyana, Mr. Narciso Reinaldo Armador Soeorro presenting his Letters of Credence to President David Granger in the presence of Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon.
DEAR EDITOR,
I stood up, fearlessly, as a Guyanese writer—deeply concerned about the fate of the Guyana Prize for Literature, and addressed the Minister of Culture, Dr. George Norton in an open letter. Thus far there have been two negative rebuttals to it. One by a Rastafarian poet whom I do not know and with whom I have no quarrel, but whose tone was very critical of me for challenging the Minister. The other rebuttal was by some wanna-be Guyanese writer and xenophobe that I also do not know. I think his name is Cecil Gideon or Gideon Cecil, he wrote:
“One of Mr. Creighton’s four-time Guyana Prize Winners Harold Bascom wrote the following: ‘Dear Minister Norton, there is a way for you to go down as the most effective Minister of Culture Guyana has ever had; and it will redeem you from being regarded as having been a mere political appointee with the least interest in culture—a square peg in a round hole.’’ July 1,2018 Kaieteur News. That is a very disgusting and derogatory statement to the Hon Minister of Culture Dr. George Norton…’”
It seems that my letter was sacrosanct: to address a demi God and ask him to do his job. This is so laughable. In other words, I was supposed to know my place. Hmmm. So, where should that place be? Groveling in fear and being afraid to express how I feel as a Guyanese writer? No. I’ve always dared to be like Rodney, like Waddle, like Courtney Crum-Ewing.
What is a Guyanese Government Minister but a mere Guyanese man or woman who yesterday was just a mere man/woman that everybody knew and could have said, “Whap’nin?” to? Does becoming a Minister confer upon us ‘Godliness’ through some kind of bureaucratic magic that renders the rest of subservient? Is becoming a Minister a kind of anointing that elevates one into a sedan chair of awe ensconced in miraculous ‘honour’. No. A Government Minister is just a regular Guyanese citizen with a ton of responsibility—and in service to us citizens. (Yes. I am STILL a Guyanese citizen.) Maybe Minister Norton is an honorable man in respect to things other than culture, but for the Guyana Prize debate at hand, the jury is still out.
But let me get back to this wanna-be writer-guy Gideon Cecil who I only know through his letters in which he uses xenophobic language continually to attack Al Creighton whom he obviously envies. This Reverend obviously doesn’t know me and how much I’ve contributed to Guyana’s literary and theatrical heritage. If he had, he would not have described me, as ‘ONE OF MR. CREIGHTON’S FOUR-TIME GUYANA PRIZE WINNERS…’
Truth be told that as much as I respect Mr. Creighton for all that he has done to highlight and advance Guyanese literature, I am not one of his acolytes—if he has any. And to the Reverend I say: Mr. Creighton has long come to recognize the significance of my work as a Guyanese novelist and social commentator as a playwright.
Further, EVERY Guyana Prize I’ve won was through the depth and high quality of my work and not by ANY kind of favoritism or cliqueism.
And really, Mr. Cecil … are you THAT spiteful to exhort the Minister of Culture to abolish the Guyana Prize? Your words, Sir. Let me quote you: ‘…so the Minister and our current administration must do the honourable thing scrap the Guyana Prize for Literature until further notice demote the Prize Secretary and the incompetent Guyana Prize board with immediate effect.’
Really, Sir? And the phrase: ‘Until further notice…’ I can only assume it means, ‘until Mr. Creighton is sidelined and you, Rev. Gideon Cecil, take over the running of the Guyana Prize for Literature.
God help us.
Sincerely,
Harold A. Bascom
Four-time Guyana Prize winner and winner of the 2014 Caribbean Award for Literature
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