Dear Editor,
Guyanese voters should know where the candidates and/or political parties stand on the various issues such as jobs, rebuilding industries, creating a safe and dynamic business environment education, resources development, UG (better funding and facilities including the need for a radio station), the roles of science and technology, research and development, human rights, the freedom of information act, freedom of the press and independent public institutions.
Few leaders are able to resist the outright abuse of absolute power when such opportunities come their way. In light of our past disastrous experiences, the personalities of the major players must be examined since the personality of the president affects this small nation for better or worse. This is necessary until checks and balances become embedded in the constitution and the various public institutions (police, army, judiciary, public service) regain their independence.
It is therefore unfortunate that Mr Ramotar has refused to be involved in a debate at UG. We must assume that this presidential candidate thinks that the public discourse of views is not necessary in this country, or that the public does not need to know more about him.
Is the PPP loudly saying its candidate cannot hold his own in a public debate without a script?
We have never seen any picture of Mr Ramotar at UG, despite the years of our writing about the conditions at UG and their effects on the youths and national development. He apparently never dropped by to see for himself what was going on. (Mr Ramotar was however in NY at the India Day parade, as photographs show.) The same educational institution, UG, has been arguably the crowning achievement of Dr C Jagan and his then PPP colleagues. This current Presi-dent Jagdeo government has destroyed the university resulting in lost years of our human youth potential. The same disaster befell other post secondary educational institutions.
UG has now become a natural poor background to the ruling PPP’s candidate, but an excellent testament to the years of neglect inflicted on students despite claims that the PPP government has excelled in education, social and human development. These deficiencies at UG were repeatedly documented in the local media. We must assume that Mr Ramotar does not read, does not care or goes along with whatever his leader decides. This reflects poorly on the leadership abilities and qualities of this presidential candidate.
Likewise, we do not know and have not heard Mr Ramotar’s views on any of the various issues mentioned above.
The major players, including Mr Ramjattan (years after leaving the PPP) now of the AFC, support our call for improvements at UG and support investments in research and development in science and technology. AFC did support those of us (spearheaded by Dr J Bulkan) who sought to bring the information on exploitation on our forestry resources to the public’s attention.
Mr Granger (APNU) specifically promised better education and technical training at UG and other technical and post-secondary institutions. (In the Corbin years, we never heard from Mr Granger during the active debate between us and the UG administration under Dr James Rose.)
According to the writings of Mr Malcolm Harripaul (human rights activist), APNU also plans to address the security fears and concerns of the population. We were given some insights into the mindset and intentions of Mr Granger.
The PPP presidential candidate, Mr Ramotar, is not on record as saying or writing anything on any of the major issues (education, UG, science, research and development, human rights violations, industrial development, etc) over the years. Unfortunately, Mr Ramotar has been silent and reminds us of the three monkeys – eyes, ears and mouth covered with their hands, meaning they see no evil, hear no evil and speak not of the evils that abound.
Mr Ramotar needs to show us that he is his own man, and get into the debate with others. Dr Jagan, Mrs Jagan, Mr Burnham and Mr Hoyte never ran from a debate.
Debating in a public forum is a normal process in any viable democracy; the electorate deserves better than what he has shown so far. The youths and all Guyanese deserve to be informed.
Besides, we enjoy the historic ‘Kodak moment‘ in Guyana where Mr Sam Hinds hugged Mr Ramotar and cried. We are certain that Mr Hinds would be so happy to give an encore performance after a presidential debate. We want to know the man Mr Hinds is so emotional about.
Yours faithfully,
Seelochan Beharry
