Dear Editor,
I had to read the article over and over in the KN, captioned ‘Irate President lashes out at Kaieteur News’ of November 6, 2009, since I could not believe what I was reading. We can choose to exhibit a ‘crab-dog’ attitude in our personal life but we must never relinquish the duty to treat our office with the utmost of respect. Failure to respect one’s station can condemn the nation to a precedent of disrespect which can be the stimulus for permanent under-development. Our people do not deserve permanent under-development since our foreparents invested too much in Guyana.
The newspapers stated that the President waded into writers of KN saying, “And then you have ghost writers who can malign people… but they don’t have the courage… I would say something else… to put their names.” Buddha stated that art of right speaking entails speaking the truth. What is the truth with respect to ghostwriters in Guyana? Almost all, if not all politicians both in government and in the opposition have a ghost name which they use to let off steam, and to plant political points that are not politically acceptable to the wider society. The Press and Publication Office within the Office of the President has professionalised the art of ghostwriting, usually under anglicised names like Elizabeth Daly, Todd Morgan, etc, who are commissioned to regurgitate on a daily basis ghost letter after ghost letter. Therefore, the President has neither the moral authority nor the ethical mandate to condemn the practice of ghostwriting. I do not like the idea of ghostwriting but it is a style of public life acceptable and practised by most, if not all public personalities in Guyana. Thus, the condemnation of ghostwriting by the President is like the pot calling the kettle black. If a normal Guyanese made such a statement, he could easily be accused of gross hypocrisy. As Bob Marley stated, “Who the cap fit, let them wear it.”
The KN quoted the President as saying, “You have some really crazy people there too… I don’t want to mention who… but you know moralizing and stealing all the time… a convicted thief… writing everyday for your paper… a convicted thief and a self-confessed man kisser and you don’t see anything wrong… everyday.” Was the President misquoted? Is this the same tongue that called for a cohesive society? Is this the same tongue that must demonstrate leadership and stay away from idle chatter? Is this the same tongue that has to stay away from abusive speech to mould a nation? If these statements are true, it is certainly ‘How not to be presidential 101.’ Even Kaiso King, Malcolm Corrica, who was a PNC Minister, was better than this. Shame, shame! Can I ask KN to review their transcript to ensure that these statements were accurate because I still cannot believe these things were said.
KN then stated that the President then accused it of having links to a $300M fraud that was uncovered by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The paper quoted him as saying, “I hope that you will investigate the GRA matter further for a particular reason, which hopefully will be made available soon, because it has links to the Kaieteur News.” There is massive confusion here namely:
1. Has the state lost the competence to conduct fraudulent investigations using standard operating procedures?
2. The burden of investigation at GRA must and should lie with the police, the Internal Audit Department of the GRA and the Office of the Auditor General, not KN.
3. How can Citizen No. 1 arrive at a conclusion before the investigative arm of the state has completed its investigation? Has Guyana been reduced to voodoo decision-making whereby an accusation is made and a conclusion is arrived at by certain public functionaries instantaneously without providing due process its rightful role?
4. Can anyone remember the Guyflag/GRA case? What has become of it? Nada! Can anyone remember the many sound-bites that were made at that time by Citizen No. 1? It is all about ‘pampasetting’ and ‘sand dancing’ with no substance; just wind paddy.
5. These actions have left the credibility of Guyana shattered. There is no attempt at concrete public policy formulation, just guesswork day in and day out. How can we run a state in this manner? How can we mould a nation with this level of intellectual bankruptcy and mediocrity?
If the standards that many of us are fighting to restore in Guyana are being blown to smithereens on a daily basis by none other than Citizen No.1, and the citizens of Guyana have no outrage at these constant behavioural malfunctions, then there is no hope for Guyana over the next 2 years. I can do much better things with my time during these remaining two years of intellectual bankruptcy and policy malaise, so I will sparingly use my time to write to the press going forward.
There are many things I want to write about, especially the alleged abuse of that child by police officers, but I will reserve my comments since how can I wade into them when their boss has failed to demonstrate any modicum of leadership? Guyana has reached a stage where the tail is leading the donkey. I await the next leader to contribute to that process of moulding a nation, since there is no hope for the next 2 years. This is not what Cheddi Jagan, Komal Chand, Nanda Gopaul, Sam Hinds and all the other stalwarts of the restoration of democracy process fought for, certainly not.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
