The real change that is shaping and giving form to the political and economic future

Sep 16, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,

I think that it is safe to say that Guyanese have never really had a good day politically. We have been oppressed historically by colonialism and the oppression continued under post-Independence and post-Republicanism politics. Every single day Guyanese are stressed out by the class of politicians who continue to utilise a model of emotional baiting of one against the other as opposed to deployment of reason, intellect and compassion to problem solving. Just listen to the stream of utterances from no less of a person than the Prime Minister of Guyana. There is never any intelligent or inspiring leadership from these sources. It is always an invocation to fear or other negative emotions. Some of us just hasten for the nearest border rather than endure the suffering.
However, as we know quite well, as individuals, and collectively, as a nation, we cannot run very far from ourselves. We must stop running at some point, turn around and face Goliath head-on. Every failure that we have encountered as a young nation is not a source of shame, but it offers an opportunity to define the kind of future that we do want. One of the failures of political leadership in Guyana has been its contempt for the masses. Politics in Guyana is a deceitful game with no genuine concern for the welfare of citizens; it is merely a power-struggle. Campaign promises are made to lure voters but never intended to be kept, for the political rationale is ‘who are you going to vote for? The other side is worse than us.’
Well, with the recent disappointments that we feel with the promised politics of change, and especially the corruption and contempt demonstrated by a young government only three years in office, we are learning from the failures of those who hold the reins of power. As a private citizen, I have come to understand, that the ‘other side’ is not better or worse. But they are the same. And with that realisation, the playing field is level, for we have shattered the old political game of ‘good us’ vs ‘bad them’.
As Guyanese trying to decipher the mutterings of the various political leaders, we now have to pick sense from non-sense. We can no longer blindly trust this politician or that politician. They have all been exposed as frauds of one sort or the other. In order to make sense out of what is going on in this country of ours, we have to think and reason and rely on the evidence before us. The politicians can continue to live in denial that we are a blind and stupid population beguiled by their ploys and schemes. In this age of social media, we are no longer only listening to politicians and their trolls. We are listening to the opinions of experts. One statement from Dr. Jan Mangal or Mr. Christopher Ram or the Private Sector bodies, for example, packs more integrity than any rubbish coming out from the political class. And herein lies the greatest hope for our future: the strength of our civil society and our professional class who have been oppressed and marginalised by government after government, until they have been pushed out of the public service and replaced by the weak-minded and the partisan.
The positive change in the political class that we had hoped for with the transition to the APNU-AFC coalition did not materialise. From the ashes of our disappointment, another kind of change emerged, in the minds and hearts of the citizens of this nation. To take this country into the future, where it is sensitive to the needs of our people (and the young people want Open Government) and where it can negotiate constructively with the resource grabbing Bai Shan Lins and Exxon-Mobiles of the world, from a position of strength, confidence and morality, we need a different kind of leadership. And that leadership has to reflect and value competence. Partisanship is dead.
Sincerely,
Sandra Khan

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