Dear Editor,
As I sat on my verandah I saw a contractor resurfacing the street leading to the Anna Regina Multilateral School that was filled with potholes. He started the grading and preparation of the street going to the main public road from the end of my car entrance, leaving a multitude of holes extending the length of my yard.
I asked the foreman who was supervising the resurfacing of the street why he had left the portion in front my car entrance leading to the main public road, and he told me that he was instructed to leave that portion. Editor, I feel this was blatantly done by the regional administration to inconvenience me and my family because I have commented outspokenly in the media on the magnitude of mismanagement in the region.
Similarly, in the administration, the political henchmen have resorted not only to attacking those who criticize it, but also to putting pressure on those who have been courageous enough to expose wrongdoing. The first casualty was always the fearless who have been victimized in this region. The tactics being used have brought Essequibians to a new stage in the struggle for genuine representation. The people now realize that it is not possible to work with the regional administration as long as a certain political figurehead is there.
At the political and grassroots level, this official lacking popular support, will rely increasingly on pressuring the citizens and will fashion closer ties with contractors in relation to victimization.
Essequibians have to embark on civil resistance and non-cooperation as Dr Cheddi Jagan taught us. If they try to pressure and victimize us, we are all taxpayers and we should receive the same fair treatment when a road is being built. It is wrong to penalize a man for his political beliefs.
In fact conditions should now develop under which one can evolve from consensus without pressure which forces anyone to defend his personal political choice. I have argued, at several forums and at different times in the PPP, that
economic and social progress is not sustainable or even possible without democracy. While I recognize that democracy is not everything, without it we could hardly achieve anything. I still hold very strongly to this point of view. No one can deny that I played a leading role in the great struggle for a return to democratic rule in Guyana and should not be pressured and victimized by the regional administration.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
