The Sound of Unity – In One Guyana

Feb 18, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

For some the actual name is unspeakable. He can only be referred to as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development – a position that is a substantive contradiction of his own behaviour in the National Assembly displaying explicitly a level of underdeveloped morality, albeit unpardonably condoned by an equally amoral ‘Speaker’.
It has been a most depressing experience for witnesses and listeners of all generations. One pauses to reflect on the too late and hesitant apology, and wonders whether he has since earned any forgiveness from his spouse, and other female relatives, not to mention children. Shame is the name of the game?
But there were also objectionable performances which degraded ‘Parliamentarians’, then supporters (befuddled and disappointed) communities at large and, conceivably, others of a population exposed to foreign witnesses here and abroad; not to mention the debasement of respective leaderships.
Wherever seated the parties did not appear to understand that they were controverting one another not in an enclosed ‘National Assembly’, but out to the larger ‘assembly’ of citizens.
Unfortunately, the very articulate and climatic presentation by the Minister of Finance which lasted some two hours and thirteen minutes, compounded the exercise in the diminution of opposing individuals and party; insisting at the same time that he was prepared to step down at any time from his goliathic perch to relate to them, presumably in the spirit of ‘unity’ as manifestoed.
One can only wonder how much some of the old, and young, felt when this human being could persistently portray the last Opposition Leader as ‘cardboard’. That reference was but a relatively small proportion of the vitriolic attack on ‘fossils’ who could only indulge in ‘empty and vacuous theatrics’.
In the early component of a presentation under the heading of ‘Policy’, the Minister spent some time repetitiously bemoaning the:
• ‘self-insulation’ of Harmon
• the David G Boats and Buses
• Burnham’s Linden
• ‘Democratic Dividend’
• ‘Pipe Dreams’
and a remarkably superfluous reference to the National Cane Farming Committee enacted since 1965.
So that not enough time was given to the productivity of a budget which boasted, among other things, of the number of hospitals to be built – confused by a later announcement by the Minister of Health of the substantial migration of Nurses to other climes.
One admits that, however eloquent the presentation, it did not lift the overall standard surrounding the 2022 Budget debate, in the sense that there was more ‘gas’ than ‘oil’. So that it is conceivable that more persons were left ‘choking’ on the former than others would have been sliding on the latter. For certain, together our leaderships did not inspire the ‘Unity’ they have proffered, for they overlooked the fact that young and old pay more attention to how they behave than to what is said. With the promised ‘liberalisation of the ICT’ there would be more exposure of behaviours. The promised ‘listening Government’ will be ‘listened’ to in turn for accountability.
The whole ‘theatre’ provided pause for reflection: that it is the reaction to the messenger that gives credibility, more or less than to the message. In other words, it is the patterns of behaviour recorded, consciously or unconsciously, over time that cumulates into the receiver’s evaluation of the integrity of the messenger and therefore the credibility of the message. The conclusion, however hyper-sensitive, is that the image just keeps getting in the way of the communication.
But the factor of ‘trust’ is also critical. At the risk of over-emphasis, see the following quote from Stephen Covey’s highly respected book titled ‘The Speed of Trust’:
“There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organisation, nation, economy and civilisations throughout the world – one thing which, if removed will destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.
On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to create unparallel success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.
That one thing is TRUST.”

A Conscientious Observer

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