Different yardsticks

Dear Editor,

In Guyana some blame Cheddi for the excesses of the governments that have been in power after his death. Yet no one blames Mandela for the governments that took over from him and became far worse than the Guyana government, even while Mandela was alive. In fact Madiba was silent while he was alive and the excesses were on stream. I am not justifying excesses of one kind or another but if Mandela cannot be faulted for the excesses of the government that followed him how can Cheddi be faulted for the governments that have followed him? Why are the yardsticks different? I am certain that neither man thought that those who were associated with them would change so radically once they took the reins of power, as I am sure that neither would have foreseen that those who fought in the trenches with them would have allowed such travesty to take place.

 Yours faithfully,

Annan Boodram