Dear Editor,
This unilateral act from the Granger regime was pre-planned from weeks ago, and thus asking for more names was just a charade. But the charade was an act of indecency and slyness on the part of the players who were asking for more names.
I must recognize the willingness of the PPP to submit new names in order to subscribe to the principle of democracy. I was particularly excited by the inclusion of the name Lawrence Lachmansingh, who has been a UN man most of his life exclusively working around the world in the area of elections management, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and so on. Mr Lachmansingh is as bipartisan and fair-minded as you can get in Guyana. My second choice was, of course, the very experienced Major General (ret’d) Joe Singh who already served in the role and thus would have jumped right in and delivered the local government elections in short order. I can find no living judge in Guyana who could do a better job at elections management in Guyana than these two gentlemen; none whatsoever. So a grave injustice was imposed on the nation by a very unfit and improper Mr Granger.
In light of this, we must not roll over and run, but strengthen our resolve for the fightback. The Granger regime has made its move but it was not a surprise offensive against the Guyanese people. Many knew this was what was going to happen because this is the same old PNC. I was surprised because I was expecting some level of decency from Mr Granger, but I was wrong.
This unilateral appointment of Mr James Patterson speaks for itself. The people of Guyana have already formed their opinion and over the coming days, thousands of others will do the same. Sons of Guyana like me have so many more tools at our disposal today compared to our foreparents in 1974. Just look at the shellacking social media is giving the unfit and improper Granger regime these days.
Now fully aware of this reality, the time is now when we all must band together for a collective fightback. This is not a PPP v PNC struggle; this is a battle for the soul of a people who are overwhelmingly supporters of the rule of law and good governance. This struggle has nothing to do with race, religion, ethnicity or gender; it has everything to do with the principle of putting Guyana back on the path that adheres to transparency in public action and public decency in decision-making.
In that regard, I call on all Guyanese individually in their own little way, to commence a period of non-cooperation with this government, just like Gandhi and Mandela did; peaceful but firm. The collective fightback has to start now. We in the main diaspora centres have a big job to sensitize our senators and house members (Washington DC), members of parliament (Ottawa and London) about what is going on in Guyana. This is a partnership between the locals and the diaspora that is designed to connect and serve the people of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh
