Appealing to, working at influencing, Minister Vindhya Persaud

Mar 22, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – I come humbly before Hon. Minister Dr. Vindhya Persaud today. Cap in hand, a curtsy for a sister, a fine lady. The legacy of my folks, village, times. Something came to me recently, and I shook. So, I come before Minister Persaud with a thought, hopefully a speck of grace, in me. The liberty is taken of using the personal in appealing to Minister Persaud. Permit the indulgence.

Melinda Janki, a fighter for Guyanese, a woman of courage, wrote the president about Mash celebrations. The excess is all I’ll say. She said more. Then a social media post came to me, what degraded Ms. Janki, all women, from little girls to mature, sophisticated women. I blinked. Can’t be. Not former Minister Nigel Dharmalall, a man himself once embattled. Just can’t be, not he. Not again. Vile is too mild. Where were you, Minister Persaud? I believe that you have more in you than silence. The doctor in you should know about pain. The minister in you, Dr. Vindhya, must know about the horrors in many women lives, children included, of which there were two savaged ones recently. The woman that you, and the spiritual leader that you, have been, cannot be about what is so precious to hold onto that the sacred is diluted, that the throat becomes so clogged that not a word can be said. Publicly. Frankly. Fearlessly. Yes, I know of the pulls, compulsions, of politics. But standing for women and their dignity must be superior to all else.

You, Vindhya Persaud, have a duty to set a standard, stand tall, be an example. ‘I will not stand for such behaviors. I will not have any part, any association, any comradeship, with those who revile women. Or anyone for that matter. I will not stand with any leader who, by their inaction, seemingly condones attacking outspoken women, citizens that fight for Guyanese. It is where you must be, minister. How do you stand for dignity and pride in women, respect for the rights and presence of females, and then still have nothing to say in a full baring of the chest? This is wrong. This isn’t my team. This cannot continue. A former minister, a Central Executive member of the ruling PPP, an insider to President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo has to be a different presence. The social media hordes can be of extremes, the barbaric, but not a man with the intimacies that Mr. Nigel Dharamlall enjoys with national leaders. If he is unable to manage himself, then Drs. Ali and Jagdeo must put in time and effort to help him do so. Serious time, and not for any show. (Have some helpful words for Mr. Dharamlall, others, soon)

Pres. Ali has spoken of Civics. Begin within, Mr. President, with the circle of insiders: stop, no mas. This is not the PPP of Irfaan Ali. Let that good word spread to PPP cyberspace battlers. For what most of them don’t know, care. Oil brings people of all kinds to Guyana. There will be some who have stalking eyes, groping hands, endangering minds. Beware. When social media, any media, is misused to revile and violate Guyanese women, then invitations are extended to unknown incoming predators. Minister Persaud: your own hands just got heavier; your workload more demanding. What you speak about so earnestly, so brightly, you must stand for, minister. Doesn’t matter that it may be a conscientious objector (a terror to the PPP), or a member of the PNC or WIN. Or a lapsing PPP brother, sister. The call to duty, call to arms, must be unchanging. Yours, Minister Persaud. When Roman Catholics cannot speak, another spiritual man is too preoccupied (their turn coming), then you must standup, speak up, Minister Persaud. You are better when not cowering, not self-protecting. You are a Guyanese noblewoman when you rise to your full height and say: I’ll be damned if I don’t. Therefore, I will do, I will be a tribute to women by the honors I dedicate to them, come what may. It’s time for a different government, a different culture. So that there’s a different Guyana. Give it a try, Vindhya Persaud. Be a woman of steel, and not of straw. Make a believer of me. I don’t matter. Do so for all Guyana, sister.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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GHK Lall, influencing, Nigel Dharmalall, Vindhya Persaud

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