Who is to bell the cat?

Feb 05, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Once again, our beloved nation state is being distracted by a level of folly and unnecessary energy being spent on things like gifts and the strange behaviour.
So long as our leaders on both sides of the political divide continue behaving like truculent urchins, the victims of this folly will be this and succeeding generations.
For brevity, I comment on two issues, one, gifts to high ranking officials and two, the oil and gas situation.
Some years ago, we posed a code of conduct that should be strictly applied to all senior functionaries, departmental heads, ministers, etc.
This code should be precise, avoiding ambiguity. Such document should be available to the public at large and therefore, there should be no debate about gifts, etc.
The code should go beyond the words, repeated when Members of Parliament and Ministers of Government swear to when taking their oath of office, but once an official violates, he or she should be told by the people, regardless of political association, that he or she must leave office without any fuss or delay.
But my second and by far more important issue is oil and gas.
Here, even non-experts reading journals, reviews and comments would arrive at a conclusion that Guyana is being given a raw deal.
This and the previous administration seem willing to settle for little as against demanding plenty for the people of Guyana.
The puerile behaviour by our political groupings of spending money on PR Firms, all intended to besmirch the character of the ‘other’ people, is fruitless and foolish.
Earlier, I stood by a position, that on oil and more generally, in dealing with these huge conglomerates, which ever government is in office, they should consult and discuss the matter, so that when we transact business with these giant oil companies that seek to harvest our precious non-renewable resources, that the companies should recognize the government, opposition and civil society are ad diemillum.
In other words, the people of Guyana will speak with one voice, one demand, so that the conglomerates ought not to benefit from that curse, which afflicted our slave and indentured ancestors should be gotten rid of – that is the well-practiced policy of divide and rule.
In the name of my noble ancestors, in the name of my contemporaries, in the name of young Guyana, in the name of our descendants, not yet born, I plead, I beg that our leaders shed their pomposity and false pride and sit down over a table of mauby and buns and talk things out, so that whenever we speak to the foreign companies about extracting our minerals and other non-renewable resources that they know that the government, opposition and civil society are at one.
The problem, has always been, who is to bell the cat?
Perhaps a council of elders, a representative of our youth with expert advice should be given the responsibility to bring the warring factions together for a civilized dialogue.
History has shown that if we don’t act now, not tomorrow, today, we will keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
And our children and children’s children will stamp on our graves for losing a golden opportunity that beckons.
I am tired of hearing from early childhood, of our great potential.

Regards
Hamilton Green

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