Dear Editor,
We are daily bombarded with statements and promises from Governmental top brass about One Guyana, about justice. A State media that is critical of those who suggest we are now facing an emerging oligarchy where we boast that Guyana is the fastest growing economy in the hemisphere having joined the elite of being an oil producing country. In spite of oil, because of our history, sugar remains an important aspect of national life. I was therefore surprised and disappointed with the usual fanfare when the new Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Board of Directors was announced.
GuySuCo is a public corporation which controls this important industry. I tried to ascertain from the Leader of the Opposition, which of the following members he recommended. He told me he was neither consulted nor involved in identifying this new Board as follows- “Madanlall Ramraj, Jairam Petam, Mohamed Raffik, Roy Hanoman Singh, Shaleeza Shaw, Tarachand Balgobin, Shameera Evans, Desmond Sears, Vishnu Panday, Paul Cheong, Ramnarayan Rupan and Aslim Singh.” Editor, it will be interesting to ascertain the qualifications and general public confidence of the above that led to them being put in charge of this vital industry. Three cheers for One Guyana and I pose a question, does one Guyana translate to “me one”?
Editor, President and People of Guyana, look around our beloved country and when the Prophet Khalil Gibran wrote the following, he must have been precisely referring to this country “Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.” Was he thinking of our new oil conquerors? And how similar is the following? “Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking – Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again,” and, “Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.”
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green
Elder