Dear Editor,
I was horrified when I saw a photograph reprinted from the front page of the Guyana Times of May 27. It showed an Amerindian in tribal costume on his knees before David Granger during the latter’s inauguration as President. My first thought was that the publication had to be malicious, because it makes Mr Granger look really bad, accepting homage from a citizen, in a symbolic posture that goes against notions of democracy that I know he shares.
My second thought was that Mr Granger lost a godsent opportunity for a gesture that would have been priceless to Guyanese unity. If the President had grabbed that Amerindian, raised him to his feet, and whilst holding him upright demanded a microphone to say, “You don’t have to bow to me!” the message would have been so powerful in the main task facing the presidency, which is making good on inclusive democracy. President Granger could have said a few words, as an historian, about the Amerindian tradition of egalitarianism. Then, if he had called for a crescendo of tassa drums in Indo-Guyanese celebratory music, what an inspiration the inauguration would have been.
I understand why David Granger didn’t take the opportunity; because he was brought up by a father who was a career police officer, and himself had a full military career, he was conditioned to ceremonial and hierarchy. He still has to learn to behave more naturally, to give way to the basic feelings I know he has, about equal citizenship, about the energizing power of brotherhood. It’s not too late.
Our President’s greatest challenge will be managing his time, to meet all the demands of protocol while still allowing the personal goodwill of his supporters, well-wishers and friends to reach him as a human person. One example is that, while I can claim to know him personally, I don’t even have an email address that will get this kind of message to him directly. So I have to address the advice through the public print. Which I know he will forgive, if only because I mean it as a help to him and to all public officials in the new Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
