Defensive cover?

Dear Editor,

Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat may have intended to provide cover for and defence of acting Foreign Minister Ms Priya Manickchand whose toast at the Fourth of July celebration of the Independence of the United States of America and farewell for its Ambassador to Guyana Mr Brent Hardt has drawn widespread criticism, including words like “disgust”, “lacking decorum”, “descent into the gutter.”

But none of these can compare with Dr Luncheon’s “feral… blast” which by implication reduces Ms Manickchand to the level of a wild beast. It is insulting and demeaning for Dr Luncheon to associate any person, and more so a woman, with such language. Ms Manickchand should reject such an association with her, or any action taken by her. I believe that she should have refused to deliver such a ‘toast’ which could only damage the relations between Guyana and United States of America and the public’s perception of her.

Apart from the ‘toast’ itself and its reception by the audience, two things struck me that night. The first is that it was the Prime Minister Mr Samuel Hinds who was listed on the programme to deliver the remarks and toast on behalf of the Government of Guyana. Mr Hinds was in Guyana and indeed in Georgetown that evening. After recovering from the shock of the toast many persons surmised that the Prime Minister would never agree to deliver such remarks and therefore chose to absent himself from the occasion. The view too is that the substantive Foreign Minister Ms Carolyn Rodrigues, having been forced to accept Cabinet’s imposition, would have fallen sick suddenly.

The second is that while Mr Robert Persaud, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment is a member of the Cabinet – which according to Dr Luncheon decided on Ms Manickchand’s “feral… blast” – he did not join Ms Manickchand and Ms Gail Teixeira in their unceremonious walkout after the ‘blast.’ Indeed, Mr Persaud and his wife later that evening engaged Mr Hardt in a long and obviously polite conversation which ended with Mr Persaud and his wife inviting the American Ambassador for a posed photograph.

Dr Luncheon is now confirming what many people think: that he had a big hand in Ms Manickchand’s speech. But worse, his destructive role is lengthening. As Chairman of the NIS for twenty-two years he has led that organisation to the precipice. Now it seems with his influence over an increasingly weak Cabinet Dr Luncheon seems willing to risk Guyana’s relationship with important international players barring the Chinese on which his Cabinet is making Guyana increasingly and dangerously dependent.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Ram