Can President Ali benefit from the advice of some of his credible Advisors?   

Sep 10, 2022 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

Our current crop of leaders should know that oft times people at the lower rung of the ladder, those who are dispossessed and get little when there is plenty, accept their position of inferiority and poverty in the midst of plenty.

However, every now and then as modern history has shown, people say that they have had enough and therefore demand a fair share of a bigger and sweeter cake. I believe we’ve reached that stage in Guyana.

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with Guyanese of every ethnic, age, economic and political persuasion and I am satisfied that this question of Guyana drifting into an apartheid state is considered real. The apartheid I refer to is both racial and economic. There are many Indo-Guyanese who are disappointed and concerned that they are only receiving occasional help, ‘father-Christmas’ style in the midst of plenty, and how rapid is our economic growth.

This is a matter that ought not to be ignored when the environment of apartheid in an already polarized society is extant. The technique of simply using a pain-killer to relieve a deepening chronic condition is a recipe for disaster. Of course, the apartheid, the marginalisation and disempowerment of the African community is stark and serious. A few of us in August 2020 felt that we should give the young President Irfaan Ali, an opportunity to fulfill his promise to make the essence of democracy realised. President Ali fortunately has Advisors who are neither Afro nor Indo-Guyanese, but men I believe who are true patriots and would want to see us flourish as a people and enjoy the bounty bestowed upon us by the gift of precious natural resources. The big question is, can President Ali benefit from the advice of some of his credible Advisors?

This means he must disentangle himself from the political ragamuffins, some new, some old whose modus operandi is driven by racism, discrimination and corruption which, like cancer, is eating away at the soul and spirit of the good people of our country. He must learn from our history. I contend that neither Forbes Burnham nor Cheddi Jagan were racist. Both men shunned the evil of corruption, yet in the mid-50s our beloved country was mired with ethnic hostility which, three generations on, remains a heavy burden.

How can we run a country with our history of exploitation and colonialism if there is no meaningful and I stress meaningful consultation with the other people? We hear the reason for this lack of consultation is because the Opposition has failed to genuflect on their knees to the new Massa and say I’m sorry for using the word ‘installed.’ Installed or not, a Commander-in-Chief must stand tall and resist this puerile purring like a pussycat postulation. At the same time I would urge our Opposition to be gracious and be willing to cooperate for Guyana.

Perhaps today we can note recent events from our Mother Country where Kwasi Kwarteng becomes Britain’s first black Chancellor of the Exchequer while Suella Braverman of Indian ancestry becomes Home Secretary. We recall that Barack Obama, mother caucasian, father black West African, became President of the most powerful nation on earth. This means that there is hope but we have, all of us, to work assiduously and harmoniously to reach the plateau of glory. We must not be like the five foolish virgins who took their lamps without oil and therefore failed to navigate the dark. Perhaps this biblical story of not taking oil in their lamps ought not to be lost upon the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Failure to use this opportunity will see us damned as a people. In the mid-1990s, addressing a mixed group overseas no less a person than Dr. Cheddi Jagan observed that Afro-Guyanese were ‘at the bottom of the ladder’. Look around Guyana and Dr. Jagan’s words then seem prophetic. Some of us today, years after can say the condition of the average Afro-Guyanese is pathetic and painful and must be corrected sooner than later. A good start could be the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure that the accumulation of massive property and wealth by certain folks can be laid bare. Such a Commission must courageously examine who now owns and controls prime mining lands, who now secure the big contracts, some in circumstances that defy logic and fairness. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be given the authority to examine and recommend corrective measures for the main institutions that represent a viable modern democratic state. These are one, efficiency of our judiciary- they say justice delayed is justice denied. If that Statement is true, it means that justice is denied in this country.

Second, a Guyana Police Force, where Guyanese in every walk of life can repose faith and confidence in its operations. A Police Force that seem unable or unwilling to solve a murder committed outside of a popular watering hole, Palm Court, where a man was riddled with bullets and a well known gentleman, who was the guest of the US Penitentiary system publicly states that he and not ‘Paper Shorts’ was the intended victim. Logic suggests he therefore is aware of the assailant. Yet after a year and a half later, the Police Force has not been able, we are told to solve yet another high profile assassination.

The boys used to say, we smell a rat. A Police NCO makes a public expose request for protection, gets none but there is a recommendation for him to be charged. The irony in all this is that we still have at both the senior and junior level of the Police Force honest and professionally driven Policemen and women. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission should help us separate, as we say, the sheep from the goat in the Police Force. At a wider level, what has kept Guyana from imploding is the existence of well researched editorials and articles in particular Stabroek News and Kaieteur News and the many men and women from both of the major ethnic groups who have courageously been speaking up against the atrocities taking place every day and we must as Guyanese honour and thank them for their relentless crusade to shine light where there is darkness. These provide a safety valve for citizens to speak up and express their concerns on a number of current issues.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission will turn us away from so many distorting our history for Petty Political Purposes. Incidentally, President Ali can do well to ensure the appointment of a proper Petroleum Commission so that there can be some direction and perhaps, the better word may be sanity to how our petroleum resources are managed. Speaking with some folks, the Descendants of African slaves, they fear that they have been placed in the position as found in the Book of Joshua where their place is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Today all Guyanese must cover themselves with that indomitable spirit, so that we do not remain in this condition particularly the impoverished Guyanese.

Regards,
Hamilton Green
Elder

---

---