The President reserves biasness, perception for himself

Feb 25, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The President and Vice President forced me to do something they will regret. That is, to go through more finely what they say, even to listen to them, when circumstances necessitate. I read the President’s Mash Day address to the nation, and I reeled. This was not presidential or national, but more of the partisan and rancorous. When the hour sounded for Guyana’s leader to be conciliatory, he held out for hostility. The very things that he accused others of, he reserved for himself, as was obvious in his articulations; that is not how democracy works, but tyranny’s ways.
The President spoke of ‘One Guyana’ in one gasp, then proceeded to trot out an enemies list, like an insecure Nixon. I can identify with some of the components of our, my own, President’s enemy list, and say so publicly; but not for reasons harboured in the President’s agitated breast. The President’s Mash message found space to spotlight “selfish agenda, biasness, perception, propaganda, and feelings.” I readily identify with perception, because the governance environment perpetrated by the President overflows with blatant wrongs, what fails minimal honesty and integrity tests. To assert otherwise is the special preserve of the comatose or the expired. Any society that is to progress, by learning from its errors and failures, will only do so via the hearts of those still capable of perception, and not willing to swallow whatever lies and distortions come down from government and leaders. Those failing to be perceptive are guilty of imprisoning their own minds and principles. It may not have registered with Guyana’s President, but what he lashed out with in his conclusion about others, is in and of itself based on perception, and housing the same “biasness” that he accuses others of on such a grand day.
Regarding “selfish agenda”, indeed, that is present, plentiful. Speaking for myself, the President knows, or his people should have told him, there are a few in this land who seek nothing, want nothing, will accept nothing. Now if that amounts to Guyanese with a “selfish agenda” then the President needs assistance of a particular kind, which I am incapable of delivering. On the issue of “propaganda” surely the nation’s young leader jests, since there is no group, no machinery, no presence in this country (maybe in the region) that is better than the PPP/C Government and its leaders and agents in the propaganda department. In Guyana, under the PPP/C and his government, propaganda is national culture, propaganda is national religion, propaganda is national pastime. It is telling that the President beholds his propaganda as scripture, but the truths of others as the handbook of the devil. In the area of “feelings” driven by whatever the President conjures in the confines of his mind, I contend that the President has them, too. I am sure he would agree that such is still a constitutional right in Guyana, which should not be denied to any, notwithstanding his views to the contrary, meaning that unless they reconcile with his government’s way of life, they are forbidden.
Incredibly, the President was proud to pat himself on the back about being receptive to “constructive criticism.” I have news for the President: he does not have a monopoly on interpretations of what constitutes “constructive criticism.” Stated differently, what is and what isn’t; not because the former pleases him, and the latter denounces. Given these hollow and artificial constructs of Guyana’s President, I have an invitation for him, something challenging. Give me something to go on, something honest, something ethical, something clean and unsullied, and I am willing to run through any fire, to attest to its national good and lasting benefits for all. Nothing would give more satisfaction. My invitation stands.
I close this out. It is most unfortunate, a source of sorrow, some consternation, that the President chose Mash Day to snipe and “gripe” (to use his word) at those who want a better, cleaner Guyana. That which is done not with shovel and wheelbarrow, but a clean conscience and record that speaks volumes.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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