President Ali believes he is vested with the Divine Right of Kings, he should recall Charles I

Nov 30, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The old folks say “you nah see thing a daytime and tek firestick fuh see it night time,” simply means to be mindful of the signs that surround you. When you are able to see clear warnings about a situation, you should heed them, instead of ignoring them, as ignoring them might bring you pain and disaster.

Observations below points in this direction, but first a saving grace are the erudite Editorials in the independent media such as the Kaieteur News and Stabroek News helping to focus the search light to pierce darkness are the likes of Village Voice, Channels 6 and 9.

The danger we face in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is the mantra led by President Dr. Irfan Ali.

Listen and observe his body language and tone of delivery, our Head-of-State sincerely believes that he is doing what is right and proper for his subjects. The philosophical underpinnings of his unilateral pronouncement suggest that the President really believes that he is now invested with what we describe centuries ago as the divine right of Kings. The problem is exacerbated by a group of Cabinet Members, Advisors and others with one or two exceptions who see nothing wrong with this march to leading a Kingdom, ignoring the norms of protocol, our Constitution and worst of all, our cherished belief in consultation.

Last week, the President announced an across the board increase to Public Sector employees of 8%. At the time, I was some distance away from my radio and I thought I heard an across the board increase of 38%. It was 8%, but the quantum is not relevant for the purposes of this letter. It is speaking to the lack or any form of meaningful consultation with the Unions and Associations representing workers in the Public Sector. This is the hallmark of a dictatorship. A noticeable feature in human history has been where leaders assumed the right to decide what the people need, all on their own or with the connivance and complicity of a cabal.

In this instance, what is irksome is that for all of this year, the cost of living has been going up week by week. However, knowing the proclivity of sections of the Guyanese community to splurge at Christmas, this announcement and payout is conveniently timed for Christmas 2022. The main beneficiaries of the back pay will be the merchants, who bring in all sorts of stuff to help public servants enjoy, and I emphasize enjoy Christmas, and I say to the public servants, avoid a shopping spree, practice deferred gratification and not for victims to a well-orchestrated plan to keep some of us at the bottom of the ladder.

I quote in the present circumstances, the Introduction written by R.R. Madden, just the opening sentences “Behold the peace that’s owned by him who feels He does no wrong, or outrage when he deals In human flesh; or yet supplies the gold To stir the strife, whose victims you behold”

We have emerged as a Nation-State out of the experiences of our erstwhile masters and Guyanese and their leaders should always benefit from their experiences. With fanfare this year, we welcomed with great joy the new King of England, Charles III. It may be helpful if we recount as part of our education, the first King Charles I. King Charles I believed in the Divine Rights of Kings and that they answered to God for their actions and not to their subjects. This allowed King Charles to ignore Parliament and the Institutions, which kept the Kingdom intact. His fate is history.

Centuries later in Guyana, we see a revival of those beliefs, where the Head-of-State can ignore all others and make unilateral pronouncements as His wont. Let us remind our President that ‘One Guyana’ includes the Unions and Representatives of the Workers and not to exclude them, and let me remind him and all and sundry, at the risk of repeating myself that the “road to ruin is oft times lined with good intentions.”

Regards,

Hamilton Green

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