Eco-tourism and Food Security – has President Ali lost his moorings?

Nov 06, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

This week, our illustrious President pontificated that Guyana’s story was not about oil and gas but about Food Security and Eco-tourism.

First question is that the President has available to him highly paid and the few I know knowledgeable, well-intentioned, experienced, and competent advisors. Which of these advisors allows him to say Guyana’s story is not about oil and gas? This recently discovered natural resource, if properly managed, could be the catalyst to vault Guyana forward where every family can benefit from a proper education, adequate health care and opportunities for cultural and allied wholesome activities. This must be the story of Guyana. Was this statement deliberately made to hoodwink Guyanese, including PPP supporters from the opportunities they are missing by not demanding that our leaders call the oil giants to the table and with the support of groups and the political Opposition demand a much bigger share of the enormous profits being made by the extraction of our oil.

But here, is this statement by President Ali, is no more than the echo of ‘His Master’s voice.’ Is Guyana the stage of puppetry where what we are seeing are the antics on the stage manipulated by the puppeteers behind the screen? Editor, if this be the case and our reluctance to renegotiate, those of us who took part in the struggle for Independence in the heat and height of the Cold War must dissolve in tears, anguish and anger. Then behold the Golden Arrowhead as just a piece of cloth, instead of a symbol of Nationhood, Pride and Independence. Our motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny,’ must be pursued now bastardized by this meaningless ‘One Guyana’ story.

The story of Guyana should be where every Guyanese, at home and abroad, would see this bounty from oil and gas to be used as the fodder to push and provide the infrastructure of Food Production and Eco-tourism. That must be the story of Guyana and young President Ali must also acknowledge and accept that this talk about Food Security at home and abroad is not new and remember his party sabotaged a well-structured Feed, Clothe and House (FCH) project even at a time when there was not the abundance of cash now available to the Administration.

But Editor, this pain described above is worsened by President Ali’s silence on the security arm known as SOCU following in the footsteps of the infamous Black Clothes Police that slaughtered hundreds of young men and to date there has been no inquiry by a party that talks about a return to democracy. We’ll wait and see if the Officer and Officers responsible for the unlawful arrest of Attorney Tremaine Clarke are brought to justice and Friday’s Stabroek News Editorial and articles in the Kaieteur News have dealt in detail with this descent into the dungeons of a new dictatorship.

Paul Slowe’s experience, letters written by Clinton Conway, GHK Lall, Christopher Ram, Kit Nascimento, Glenn Lall, Kiana Wilburg, Melissa Janki, Dr. Vincent Adams, Lincoln Lewis, Red Thread Organization, etc are all instructive and should be compulsory reading for concerned citizens. But this behaviour by Ramana, who was promoted from the rank of Asst. Superintendent to Superintendent, skipping rank and superseding many others who were competent and knowledgeable is no more than an assault on the cherished values we have acknowledged over time. I recall my own experience when I was summoned to CID Headquarters and Oliver Hinckson was brought out of his captivity and I was asked if I knew him and what was he doing at City Hall the week before? Shortly after, an Officer I learnt to be Corporal Singh presented to me a three-page document and requested that I sign it. Because of my religious background, I cannot describe the language used as I returned the three pages without even bothering to read it, to a senior Officer, since I had no knowledge of its contents.

What we are witnessing today is a relentless pursuit by a power-drunk cabal in the name of democracy, and so for obvious reasons, there is an attempt to manipulate Region 4 by an order, which in fact requires a two-thirds Constitutional Amendment.

We now live in a society where justice is equal to what the PPP Government wants ignoring the tenets of good governance, decency and the rule of law and I pose this question, when will Guyanese of every age group, of every religion and every ethnicity arrest this decline, which will tarnish the image of our beloved country?

You see Dear Editor, many of our leaders seem incapable of independent thought and not influenced by greed and the machinations of the “Old Massa.”

How can the President talk about Ecotourism, when everyday foreigners are allowed to damage our flora, our fauna and streams that were once clear streams are now dirty discoloured liquid muck where even reptiles dare not venture, where their activity are destroying the banks of our rivers, birds and the aquatic life being destroyed? Guyana’s story must be a holistic approach to development giving all of our children an equal opportunity to gain an education. Only today, I was enquiring about the whereabouts of a staff nurse at the GPHC. I learnt that she and a batch of nurses have left for the UK, dissatisfied with the wages they receive. The story of Guyana is to reverse this haemorrhage of professionals and trained personnel continue unabated which in spite of the propaganda still exists.

Hamilton Green
Elder

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