Dear Editor,
I found your last week’s Stabroek Business quite engaging because four of the matters you addressed are very close to my current persuasions. First I want to commend your editorial which struck a raw nerve in the Guyanese anatomy. Garbage everywhere reflects the way we see and treat ourselves. Plain and simple. Even though local government organs share some of the blame, in the main the average citizen is mainly responsible. No council creates the mess we see with a litter-cluttered environment and clogged waterways.
You are right about the profit motive making us a bunch of hustlers with civic pride taking an imaginary back seat. I disagree with your notion, however, that the hustlers should retire to their better-appointed enclave. There is no good psychology in maintaining two distinct environments at work and at home.
The Nex Links Project which was held in Linden last week was intended to train young people who will assist others with the methodology to become entrepreneurs. We have failed the youth so often that it has become nearly impossible to retrieve lost ground. However, no amount of effort should be spared in trying to correct this. The wonder I had was whether the overseas-based facilitators had an inkling of what obtains in Guyana in terms of our business culture, since the hands-on methodology was professed. I am sure they would be taught a lesson about Guyanese ‘hustling.’
The next was LEAP and the less I focus on this the better. ‘Things na right.’ A successor entity to LEAP was suggested over two years ago by the advisory group. Nothing came of this despite several urgings and interventions (retreat, personnel, etc). At the eleventh hour on March 30, 2009, a day before the official closure, we were called to a meeting and advised about the successor entity. I had suggested the use of Linden Community Development Association (LCDA) because the tenor of its charter and objectives were not dissimilar from LEAP’s. What we need to do was adjust the Memorandum and Articles of Association to suit our requirements. LCDA is an entity with a life of its own and would only redound to the benefit of the community. The successor entity is to be a wholly-owned company of the GoG, carrying out some activities of LEAP, but with no funding from central government. Its funding will come from fees, rentals, etc, from this struggling town, a rather difficult situation. At the meeting we were all duped into sounding upbeat when the press arrived and we told them that things were happening and that in a few weeks time LEAF’s door to lending would be opened again. It is now slated for September, 2009, some ten months after the last loan was approved and disbursed in November, 2008.
The Board of Directors is shrouded in secrecy but the International Project Manager (IPM) was told to go ahead and set up the organisation for the new entity. Where is the advisory group (which is headed by the President of the Chamber of Commerce) in all of this? To her credit the IPM submitted a list of names but there has been none from the advisory group. As a former member of that august body, I carried out three ‘mutinies’ against the management of LEAP for ‘dissing’ the advisory group. Since then the group has become a wavering rag, moving to the drumbeat of the management of LEAP. So much for militancy on behalf of the people.
My last issue has to do with the profound, civic endeavour by Mr Gregory Fraser. His philosophy resonates with mine. Do it without looking for others to follow! Do it without thinking hard about profit! Focus on the larger picture! It is a matter of conscience! Do your thing Bro, and big up to the man.
Yours faithfully,
Orrin Gordon
