Dear Editor,
During a recent browse of You Tube I came across Mandela`s speech at DeKlerk`s 70th birth anniversary, in 2006. Viewing that video reminded me of the Palestinians and the Israelis being at war, not recognizing the authority of each other`s leadership, but still being in talks about the dispute that engulfs them. Similarly, in Ireland during the period of “so called” terrorist attacks, the adversaries (Protestants and Catholics) were engaged in talks. The Mandela and DeKlerk talks resulted in the dismantling of Apartheid. In the case of the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, the talks led to a resolution of the problem. As the conflict in the Middle East continues, the talks continue. But in Guyana, the President refuses to speak with the Leader of the Opposition unless he is formally and publicly referred to as the legitimate President. To me, this seems like gamesmanship and egotism upstaging matured politics and patriotism, which the Nation needs now more than ever.
In the late 40`s as the struggle for Independence was gaining momentum and with the birthing of the People`s Progressive Party in 1950, the Founders (Jagan and Burnham) joined forces in recognition of the need for ethnic unity, in Guyana, as a sine qua non for Guyana`s well-being and development. Let’s not be fooled or have our history revised, a concerted effort was made to find an Afro-Guyanese to partner with Jagan in the quest for ethnic unity in the struggle for Independence. That that initial effort floundered did not see those founders abandoning the quest for ethnic unity, the need for which has never subsided and to the contrary has been Guyana`s bugbear and Achilles’ heels over the years, yet our current politicians keep burying their heads in the sand like ostriches in denial of our reality. The Founders, one or the other or collectively, never gave up their quest for national unity, in one form or another, notwithstanding serious differences, including non-recognition as was also the case after the 2015 elections, when refusal to speak was added to our list of political shenanigans. In 64 Jagan called for a coalition government. In 77 the two parties engaged in unity talks. In 85 another such engagement was in an advanced stage at the time of Burnham`s death. After his death “unity talks” have never been the focus of the two major parties, although forces within and outside of those parties have kept that torch alight and constantly sought to rekindle the process.
Prior to the declaration of the 2020 elections results, one such attempt came from the bosom of GECOM and resulted in Jadgeo and Granger agreeing to have post-elections talks with no preconditions. Lo and behold the Nation is now being told that a public articulation of the legitimacy of the President, by the Leader of the Opposition, is a precondition for such talks, hence my view that artificial obstacles are being created to stymie what the Nation needs. Elections from 1955 to 2020 have engendered quite the opposite (strife, ethnic conflicts and economic and social stagnation), to what the Nation needs (mutual ethnic respect and unity in diversity), which has kept Guyana in a state of retardation, yet our politicians continue to fiddle while Rome burns and the naked Kings declare themselves clothed.
Yours faithfully,
Vincent Alexander
