Dear Editor,
I am writing in defence of my father, Mr Jinnah Rahman, following a letter by Ms Parvati Persaud-Edwards which was published in your letter column on April 4, 2009 (‘Government continues to seek ways to minimize the impact of the global economic crisis on rice farmers’).
It is very easy for me to sit here and write about Mr Rahman and the things he has done for his country and also his country of residence, England. May I say Mr Rahman also knows how to “cook, wash, clean, and he is very devoted to his wife,” and may I add, he knows how to plant crops and rice! So how does this and many of the things Ms Persaud-Edwards mentions, show that Mr Seeraj brought change to Guyana and the RPA. One can have riches and intelligence, but if what someone is doing is not effective, there is no point in them leading an organisation.
Yes we can argue that Mr Rahman has not done much for the farming industry yet, but is it fair to judge a person before they have even had the chance to make a difference? Does Ms Persaud-Edwards know him personally to be subliminally insulting and undermining him? Take Barack Obama as an example; what has he done for America, let alone the world? Nothing! But he is yet to begin and hopefully when he does the world would be a better place.
Selfishness and aggression will not help Guyana become a better place; it will slow down the country’s chances of excelling. This is mainly because of those people who sit and watch Guyana’s economy going down the drain, while they claim that they are the ones who are doing something about it. In actual fact they try to cover up their failures by using the global economic recession as an excuse.
Moreover, if this campaign has been on for years now and the government will spend an additional $800 million why are problems arising and farmers not getting what they worked for? The reason why Guyana has always been a less economically developed country is because the people cannot unite and together help tackle the issues they are facing today. Rather we have to put up with people who have no hope for the future. Similarly in the case of Ms Persaud-Edwards who says, “Are the rice farmers absolutely stupid that they are not aware of what is happening in the trading world overseas?” Well whether the question is rhetorical or not, the answer is, No! Rice farmers are not absolutely stupid; they are human beings who want to have their rights given back to them. All they want is to have fair trade, and in the same way Ms Persaud-Edwards can sit on her verandah or at her desk and not have even the slightest worry, that is all they are pleading for. She should not try to suppress other organisations supporting the rice industry, because it doesn’t take one RPA to save the world!
Yours faithfully,
Isra Rahman
