There are two worlds in Guyana that are killing this country

Oct 14, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – In yesterday’s column, I referred to a conversation I had in the supermarket with Dr. Nigel Gravesande, in which I told him I write about many ills in Guyana because just as I met him and we talked, it is the same with many other folks.
I am in receipt of hundreds of telephone calls and hundreds of emails and engage in hundreds of oral conversations, about things people say are wrong. They are disgusted with and they cannot understand why these things are allowed to happen.
Interesting to note is that the list includes very educated people, business folks and also those who live abroad and are way beyond reach of the tentacles of those in Guyana who would want to be vindictive. In every instance, I would say, if you join me, if you join others that speak on these issues, then there is the possibility, that slowly but surely changes will come.
I have had lots of reaction from people on the crass display of hypocritical attitudes to election rigging in 2020 on the part of certain actors in society. Some of the words are pungently direct. My traditional reaction is – write about it, let your feelings be known and after time when these feelings are made public, there could be changes.
Here are some of the subjects highlighted in my columns for which I have received queries from people who are indignant in their complaints, but I cannot get them to participate in a public debate in the newspapers or elsewhere. They cannot see how crucial it is to let their feelings be known.
I start with the absolute silence of Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI) and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on the March 2020 election rigging. I have received dozens of emails chastising these two bodies for their incredible silence when their very work compels them to denounce election rigging.
I would say to the senders, expose them, write about it and you will embarrass them and more people will learn about their hypocrisy. But it has not happened as yet. I received several emails asking me to explain how the Stabroek News could champion Dr. Vincent Adams to remain as head of the Environmental Protection Agency when he is in the leadership of an opposition party.
One lawyer boldly told me that the Stabroek News is going out of its head to refer to a party leader holding a public service job as a “consummate professional.” I said to him, given your prominence in the legal community, if you and others who feel this way would write publicly, then you put pressure on the Stabroek News to explain and if the papers’ reasoning is faulty then people will see the Stabroek News in a different light. Here is how this gentleman responded, “me, not me Freddie, that is for people like you to do.”
I received an email from one of Guyana’s most prominent names in the diaspora. He was pleased at my criticism of Dr. Alissa Trotz for her barefaced omission the past 20 months of any discussion on the no-confidence motion and rigged election in her column, “In The Diaspora”, published weekly in the Stabroek News.
He went on to state that he knows Dr. Trotz for a long time and didn’t think about her attitude until I wrote about it several times on this page. I suggested he have a word with her and tell her that she has exposed herself. Or pen a few lines in the newspaper of how disappointed he has been. Here is his reaction, “Freddie, what’s the point?” I wrote back to say that the young generation needs to know who is who and who does what. I have not received a reply as yet.
Finally, Clive Thomas. A few academics in the diaspora have written to me about Clive Thomas based on my critical outlook on Thomas in several commentaries on this page. They expected him to explain his time in the APNU+AFC regime and give Guyanese an insight into what he did at the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), the sugar industry that he was in charge of and to pen some thoughts on the life of the APNU+AFC.
My suggestion that they compel Thomas to explain through an open letter to him has not yet received a response. To conclude, we have two worlds in Guyana. One is the community of educated people and civil society actors whom society has expectations of but who have failed us and those who are disgusted with them but wish to have their criticism remain secret.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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There are two worlds in Guyana that are killing this country

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