Dear Editor,
A reader directed our attention to a letter in response to TIGI’s call for a commission of inquiry in Su-Gate. He thought the letter called for a reasoned response. Perhaps. One big problem we have in Guyana and the Caribbean is not everyone can reason. By that we mean both from a complex set of premises and from simple premises to come to a conclusion. We do not say so lightly. CXC eventually abandoned the teaching of reasoning and logic at junior secondary level they started in 1979. So, that letter could be from the mind of one of the vast numbers of people who can put pen to paper but only think they can reason.
Now, here is a gentleman claiming that TIGI made the call for a commission of inquiry for cheap publicity. In the very statement he is responding to, the point is made that both President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo are recorded as agreeing to an inquiry. Somehow it did not occur to this gentleman that if TIGI did it out of a desire for cheap publicity, then he has a problem to explain why both president and vice president agreed. Not to mention that a reasonable person might conclude that even if the president and VP had not already agreed, the launch of the government’s own Anti-Corruption Framework (ACF) is an implied call and that it was unnecessary to verbalize a position. Unless he is implying that the GOG’s anticorruption framework was a prior attempt at cheap publicity as well. It could be that he is an acolyte and he has made a Freudian slip that exposes the real reason for the ACF. We hope not. Because we intend to take the government at its word.
In a previous article we had pointed out that there are clear signs of a left brain-right brain schizoid personality in our government; one part wants to fight corruption while the other part attacks anyone who fights it. This writer seems to be from the left brain. But that is all the time we are going to dedicate to this letter. We have someone with gravitas to address. It is SN columnist Mr Ralph Ramkarran, who took time in his last Sunday column “to give a shout out” to TIGI as he put it, and acknowledge the work we are doing. It was an unusual act, which we really appreciate, not because we agree with his statement that TIGI was doing a great job in keeping corruption in the minds of the public. (We do not agree), but because we certainly appreciate the gesture. Mr. Ramkarran is no ordinary columnist. He is more informed about the politics and history of Guyana than most, including us at TIGI. He is also someone who has made it clear that while he may have come from the heart of a political party with communist instincts, he is his own man and no one owns him. We do not agree with Mr. Ramkarran when he says that we are “ doing an excellent job of keeping the issue of corruption in the public domain” , because the Government of Guyana is doing a great job all by itself.
It is evident that they are doing such a wonderful job that their acolytes are having a hard time defending them while TIGI and the rest of civil society are having a hard time avoiding whiplash. Hardly a week passes without some scandal breaking. Finally, we need all the persons who are able to communicate their ideas, whether in “standard English” or the vernacular (creolese), to come to grips with the more serious issues in this politically blighted society. We do not have to agree. In fact, the more we can shed light on the challenges of this land of many wanters (the masses who continue to live in want, and those who want more than they are legally entitled to) the better. What we witnessed locally (the attack on one ethnic group by another), what we are witnessing in our geographical neighbourhood (the makings of Sri Lanka in Suriname), the unraveling of the Ghanaian economy (oil money being unable to stop its 18th bailout from the IMF and the society in turmoil up to yesterday 26th July) and its relevance to Guyana, all need to be analysed with a level of sensitivity by all who think they have received an education at this nation’s expense.
We owe the baker, the market vendor, the minibus driver, the farmer, and the security guard as much. They do not know we owe them. They may not even be in a position to come to that conclusion. But those of us who can, have a duty to lift the level of debate in Guyana to a new level. If there are columnists capable of raising the debate to that level, certainly Mr. Ramkarran is among those. And we suspect that when he thinks we deserve some brickbats he will not hesitate either. TIGI welcomes criticism of its ideas and its advocacy. If we come across as not receptive to criticism, we apologise. That is far from the truth. What we want is criticism motivated by the same thing that keeps us going – the need to improve our country and its role in the world. When we respond to criticism we will attempt to confine our response to the ideas always. We have to believe that the majority of our fellow citizens are capable of recognizing the difference between well-meant criticism and the fulminations of the COW men (The council of wise men whose specialty it is to decide which laws to break in favour of the corrupt and what propaganda strategy to use, and which acolyte to deploy).
Sincerely,
Frederick Collins
