As we reported yesterday, the Department of Culture held its own celebration of Phagwah on Friday with singing, dancing, tassa drumming and a presentation on the significance of the event. That was all as it should be, or at least, it would have been had there not also been a brief address by the Junior Minister in the Ministry of Education who holds responsibility for Culture. And what, the uninitiated might enquire, is the problem with that? Ministers of Culture are supposed to give speeches on such occasions. That, of course, is true, but not if you really can’t tell the difference between Phagwah and Diwali.
And Ms Nicolette Henry, it seems, really can’t. To compound her lapse, at no point did she offer a proper apology to her audience for talking about Diwali when the gathering was celebrating Phagwah at her ministry’s very own invitation, no less. In fact, the only virtue, if such it can be called, which characterised her address was the fact that it was mercifully brief.
Minister Henry started off breezily enough with a “Happy Phagwah” greeting and the like, but with barely a pause to inhale, then careened into telling her audience that “Hindus will be celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights.” The crowd was indulgent and offered some prompts from the floor, as did her Public Relations Officer, and she duly corrected herself. However, as we reported, she was soon tripping up over her festivals again: “It is important that at this Diwali celebration – Phagwah, sorry ‒ celebrations we all hold high to the vision of justice and betterment for all…” she stumbled.
Thereafter, she picked her way cautiously through the minefield of Diwali-associated words to make the appropriate Phagwah adaptations, producing, according to our reporter, some less than felicitous expressions, such as “celebrate their awareness in the form of colour,” and the vaguely militaristic one, “may this Phagwah be as bright as ever with the colours.”
As we reported too, what Ms Henry seems to have done is to reuse a speech she delivered on the occasion of Diwali last year. Unfortunately for her, the Guyana Chronicle, ever attuned to the orations of those who administer our affairs, published a story on October 29, 2016, which included her words. What they printed replicated almost exactly what the Minister had to say on Friday.
So, here we have a Minister of Culture who is promoting the appearance of either not knowing the difference between the two Hindu holidays, or who doesn’t think the difference is important. Furthermore, she demonstrates to the public that she cannot be bothered to write a short address for Phagwah, and doesn’t think it matters if she just recycles one delivered for a different occasion last year.
The average person must be wondering why, if Minister Henry doesn’t have the time or the background to write something herself, she doesn’t request that someone in her ministry do it for her. Ministers frequently do not write their own speeches, although on this occasion one might have thought that since this comes well within her portfolio, she could have managed a brief presentation on her own account. However that may be, it would certainly have been better had someone else written her speech so the extent of her incompetence and ignorance of the nation’s festivals would not have been on quite such public display.
Now this is the same Minister who succeeded in turning certain 50th Jubilee events into quite a debacle. In some other jurisdictions her efforts would have made her a candidate for re-shuffling, but this being Guyana, she was given a promotion of sorts, in the form of a scholarship for a doctorate instead. It would come as no surprise to anyone that the PhD she is pursuing is not in Cultural Studies, but in Public Health, although exactly how that assists her in her present job is anyone’s guess.
What may be the case is that Minister Henry just simply cannot manage to keep abreast of Guyanese culture (despite the fact that she has lived here all her life and should be familiar with the basics), and study for her degree at the same time. If she is under stress work-wise, then she should really decide that either one or the other would have to go. After all, she earns a more than comfortable salary ‒ courtesy of taxpayers ‒ and she owes it to the Guyanese people to discharge her functions in a conscientious and competent manner. To do that, she must master her portfolio, and if she can’t rise to that, then she shouldn’t be there.
Above all, in her position she should not be causing offence in cultural matters; that kind of demonstrated disrespect for local culture anywhere else, would automatically disqualify her for the post she holds. In circumstances where the government likes to talk about social cohesion, there is their Minister of Culture comporting herself as though she is really not an adherent of the policy.
As it is, Ms Henry has left the public with an impression of a slapdash approach, lack of interest in, and respect for, the culture of others, ignorance of her portfolio and a couldn’t care less attitude about what distinguishes Diwali from Phagwah.
Thank god the President knows the difference.
