We need our politicians to care about the well-being of the citizens

Dec 31, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Guyanese woke up yesterday, 30th December, 2019, to the news that the Inter-American Bank (IDB) has approved US$606,062 to support the Government of Guyana’s efforts for institutional strengthening of the Ministry with responsibility for the Department of Energy. While this is understandably necessary, the Ministry of Social Protection needs institutional strengthening and so does the Ministry of Health, the Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Education as these are core, but under-performing Ministries that directly impact the well-being of Guyanese citizens.
If the international community and local politicians continue to focus heavy handedly on the development and management of the Oil and Gas industry while neglecting and ignoring the poor, the vulnerable and the Oliver Twists in Guyanese society, then our small nation is at risk for building an unequal society where class divisions will widen and deepen and human suffering and crime will worsen.
There are at least two Guyanas that exist – we have Guyanese of some means and with the benefit of some degree of education, and this includes the political class, who can dwell in Guyana and avoid interaction with the Government provided Health Care Services, the local police force, the public education system and have no need for the services provided by the Ministry of Social Protection. When we have a political class who fly out of this country when they need Health Care Services, what did Independence and Republicanism achieve?
In addition to the regular hotels and high-class places such as Pegasus and Marriott, we now have in Guyana the Movietowne and Giftland Malls, where class divisions are evidenced as certain members of society do not possess the manners nor the means to be welcome there. They can visit the Parking Lots, however, when concerts are organized for them. In such a deeply divided class society, however, come election time or silly season as we call it in Guyana, suddenly compassionate politicians are on the streets shaving the beards of the homeless. Election time has arrived and the invisible in society have become visible because they suddenly have some worth – they can cast a vote.
I do not wish to be disrespectful to politicians for the simple reason that the people of any nation need politicians. It is the Politicians who develop policy and craft a vision for the development of the nation and its people. What we need from our politicians is genuine focus on the welfare of ALL Guyanese citizens – whether they are struggling in a mining community in Linden or the interior, or whether they are out of work in the Sugar Belt or whether they are starving in the city and the suburbs. Guyanese politicians need to set improved standards for the living conditions of the poor and disadvantaged – at minimum no one should be homeless in this huge country of small numbers and no one should be hungry. Our standards for social security should meet the basic needs of human beings – shelter, food and clothing. How else does one break the cycle of poverty and crime? Government of Guyana’s over reliance on remittances and NGOs to fill the social services policy gap is not acceptable.
In previous news earlier this year, Guyanese have heard that IOM and the US Department of State are providing financial support for the Government of Guyana to support Venezuelan refugees. There is no such support for the poor in Guyana and the new Government of Guyana must do more than shave the beards of the homeless or throw money (e.g $50,000 annually per child) at the problem. Government must provide proactive and institutional support to families in Guyana to prevent homelessness and starvation, and thus break the cycle of poverty and crime. We are a small society and our problems only appear insurmountable because there is little to no political will to solve them.
Yesterday the nation also awoke to the news of the Leader of the Opposition’s detailed plan to tackle corruption. When will we hear from politicians of this level of detailed plans to improve the living conditions of the real ordinary Guyanese men, women and children? We need institutional strengthening of the Health Care Sector. At my last visit to a hospital, the patients were afraid of the nurses. The nurses are bullies, a far cry from the tradition of the nurse wives who dedicate their lives to the profession. I was witness to a mother dying because of neglect by the nurses at the hospital. She should have been in the Emergency Room (ER) but she was in the ward because the ER was overburdened. This is the reality in Guyanese hospitals. We need a plan to bring in the qualified professionals that we lost. We all know about the Guyana Police Force – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of it. In every sector of society, we need highly skilled human resources. We need a professional public service where public servants are allowed to do their work. We need to hear about immediate solutions to these very real problems from our politicians. The Government of Guyana, whether it is the Child Care and Protection Agency, or the Ministry of Social Protection or the Ministry of Public Security / Health / Education – need to learn to serve the people of this country and not to misuse their power to enrich themselves or to persecute poor people.
The Leadership to transform our Government from persecuting citizens to helping the development of citizens needs to come from the top. Guyanese know that our politicians are walking a tightrope between local and international interests. What Guyanese need from politicians is more than a plan to eliminate corruption – we need a plan to eliminate two-facedness in politics. We need our politicians to also care about the well-being of the citizens of the nation. That will certainly eliminate the corruption.
As this nation enters a new year, and a General and Regional elections loom to elect to office people who will run the Government, let us all remember that there is a reason that many of us are living desperate lives – we are giving power to Babylon. Guyanese people are not just fodder for elections to offer legitimacy to ExxonMobil and other corporate interests. The Guyanese people – including the men sleeping on the streets, mothers and fathers without jobs or homes, all the Oliver Twists who are hungry and one theft away from food or prison – we all need representation by people who care just as much about humanity as about oil and gas. Oil and Gas is only important to the extent that it serves human, animal and plant interests.
This country’s heart can be healed and its institutions can be fixed and they can work for the people of the nation. We need our politicians to remember that we are depending on them for a better life for all. They need to remember us as they navigate that razor-thin tight rope of international and domestic interests with skill and balance.
May God bless the Department of Energy in the new year. May God also bless the rest of the nation as we prepare to embrace 2020.

Sincerely,
Sandra Khan

 

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