Dear Editor,
I read letters and listened to comments by people claiming and predicting what the voting pattern of Guyanese would be.
One such writer asseverated that President Ali is best suited to change the existing voting pattern and implicitly suggested that concerns by Norman Browne that the PNC will not dominate in Linden because of the good works of President Ali can happen and is based on the belief that handouts and sweet words as practised by the old plantocracy and our erstwhile masters can purchase loyalty and fool certain folks that you love them.
It is known that, after being sworn in August 2020, I took a principled position to support President Ali for the sake of our beloved country and our young people.
When there is no justice for all and the society has lost its sense of decency when decorum and diplomacy are damned, it is the beginning of the collapse of cherished institutions and society as a whole.
When the Leader of the Nation, and in our case a President, seems not to know the difference between right and wrong, and the line separating good from evil is blurred, we are in deep trouble.
The recent revelation buzzing around our diplomat, assigned to a very important State, India that he was kept in his office for over fourteen months after behaving in a despicable manner does not speak well for the President and his leadership.
High Commissioner Charandass Persaud’s vulgar assault on an Indian Lady Ms. Sonya Ghosh in New Delhi, India has already been commented on by Ms. Amanza Walton Desir, the Red Thread Organization and the editorials of the independent media.
It is unnecessary for me to deal in detail with this incident save to observe that he was appointed by President Ali.
I heard about this incident some months ago, but said nothing because efforts to have this sad and sorry saga confirmed proved fruitless, save to think that the PPP has a proclivity to name persons of questionable character to serve in India.
I hope that the Indian Government will be cautious if we send another person who may be considered to be tainted.
On this question of identifying people to serve in key posts, those who think Ali is the right man for the job, should tell us why his government has not yet had the killer of ‘Paper Shorts,’ brought to justice, but that unsolved crime is no more than the tip of the iceberg.
If President Ali is the man for the job, why did it take him so long to recall Mr. Charrandass Persaud?
If President Ali is speaking the truth, then he should dismiss his security personnel, including his Advisors on Security and the top echelon of our Foreign Service including staff at our High Commission Office in New Delhi, India.
It is unbelievable that this incident reported by the aggrieved lady was not brought to the President’s attention but I must believe, and I do, the President and by extension his Advisors and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, that they were all unaware of this sorry state of affairs.
I say this because the President, his Advisors, the Minister of Foreign Affairs are all honourable men and not capable of saying things that are untrue.
Second, you have the incident of the Attorney General, whose business in Barbados was more important than appearing before high judicial functionaries, this is of course a matter of great concern.
In a normal democracy, the Attorney General would have been asked to tender his resignation.
Then of course, there is the ‘Dildo’ incident in Parliament and President Ali and the PPP hierarchy seem to treat this matter as being trivial and therefore the offending PPP/C Member of Parliament is not given even a slap on the wrist.
Decency has gone to the dogs with due apology to our canine cousins.
How can we forget that a prominent Attorney-at-Law, apparently with good contacts, insulting an ordinary female security guard. The police received a report and did nothing and the recent arrest of a female Attorney-at-Law, Tamieka Clarke.
The security worker brought private charges but the DPP, Ms. Ali-Hack has withdrawn those charges and yet we hear from the President and his Government to ‘respect females.’
We need a Leader who is strong and willing to say what is right and the courage to tell those who are wrong, that they are wrong.
We have seen how new found wealth can be a burden on our people instead of a blessing. The difference has always been how determined the Head of State is to maintain standards and to deal promptly with those who violate the values we seek to uphold.
This is the challenge we face. Speak to young people, speak to really concerned Guyanese, how to deal with this is much more significant than analyzing the Afro-Indo Guyanese history of mutual suspicion and distress.
Speaking for myself, there are a number of decent, patriotic Indo-Guyanese in business and the professions. Similarly Afro, Portuguese, Chinese and Amerindian whose character gives our country hope.
Race relations can shake and disturb Guyana, but injustice, condoning of immorality and ignoring indecency will not shake but shatter us to bits and it is this we must avoid.
It is this, we must tell the President to deal with sooner than later, including breaking the pattern of appointing Diplomats merely because they have served the Party well or can do the dirty work.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
