Dear Editor,
When Mr Eusi Kwayana can explain how the trunk or tail can wag an elephant he would be more than welcome to calm the sea in conformity with his lofty proclamation that “The days when the preamble of a constitution could be ignored or brushed aside are over.” Twice in two successive days in the SN, on June 15 and 16 in letters captioned, ‘A preamble to a constitution serves as a guide like an elephant’s trunk for the elephant,’ and ‘The preamble to the constitution would not be there if it had no meaning,’ Mr Kwayana has sought to defend his infatuation with the preamble of Guyana’s constitution as a panacea for our country’s ills. Cautioned not to read too much into the preamble’s importance, he was reminded that he was only equating the trunk (its nose) with the entire elephant (its body) – an incongruence. His response informed us how he “enjoyed” the comparison which he found in … “Mr Sultan Mohamed’s fit of vomiting.” No alarm necessary to conclude that Mr Kwayana was abandoned by his letter-vetting team. He nevertheless graciously concedes that, “the preamble does not compel it but advises…”
In his follow-up missive Mr Kwayana expands his focus on the Guyana constitution, noting that the “The preamble would not be there if it had no meaning. Why would adults get around the table and write words to introduce a constitution if they were only joking?” Few can deny the preamble has meaning. Contention is however invited by the significant weight which Mr Kwayana attempts to give it, and use he makes of it which makes it disproportionately unbalanced. Moreover, he would like to impose such a perception on Guyana as a new PNC recipe for future good living. An attached ramp “leading to” a plane does not enhance its airworthiness in flight, as Mr Kwayana seeks to do. Moving up the ramp to board and getting airborne finds Mr Kwayana committed to hijacking passengers to an alien destination which they have neither democratically chosen nor consented to.
If the preamble’s contents are of such fundamental importance to the Guyana constitution why is it just a prologue and not inside the main body of the womb to be nurtured and grow? Mr Kwayana is of course entitled to use the trunk of the elephant as his personal guide any time he so wishes. But he cannot actually expect all Guyanese to believe that the preamble-guide is really not a Trojan horse designed to get political power by yet another recalibrated trunk-hoisting mechanism.
All of our prominent politicians from yesterday in all our political parties are either deceased or have stepped off the political stage. What is this Eldorado gift with which Guyana is so endowed that still finds us with three prominent former discredited PNC General Secretaries, Mr Eusi Kwayana, Mr Hamilton Green and Mr Aubrey Norton all constantly affording us so much unappreciated wisdom from their overflowing political goldfield? Can belling the cats on the same hot tin roof ever be achieved with dignity and decorum for all?
Yours faithfully,
Sultan Mohamed
