Dear Editor,
I applaud Pastor Wendell Jeffrey (I don’t know him) for his no-nonsense letter in SN on August 11 delineating his perplexity regarding the government’s remigration programme.
I share his perplexity, and I shelter under the umbrella of his erudition.
When a son or daughter of the soil answers a ‘come back home’ call, he or she does not expect to be confronted with bottlenecks and indifference that seem to be the overriding motif in many cases: “We have your number, we’ll get in touch with you.”
Pastor Jeffrey says he cringes every time he hears the high-sounding overtures the Guyanese politicians make to folks in the diaspora, because, like many others answering the call, he has been disappointed. The pastor takes a dip in turgid waters when he warns of the dangers of cronyism, professional jealousy and political narrow-mindedness, and suggests “some kind of skeleton staff with unbridled access to key ministries to be in place to handle the requests of those returning.” Again, I concur.
I came home for the inauguration of President Granger, felt the tug of patriotism, hurried back to Brooklyn, bought two giant-sized barrels, and started packing. I’ve been back home nigh on two months, my resumé
carefully ensconced in a manila envelope, hopes of talking to a ‘big one’ receding with every weary step along New Garden Street.
I had this far-fetched notion that as a trained journalist, who was once Sports Editor and Sunday Editor (Chronicle) and Editor (The Citizen), I might have snared an interview. Maybe the US State Department scholarship and the stints at UG and University of the West Indies (St Augustine) have something to do with the ‘hands off.’ It couldn’t be the fact that for seven years I was Editor-in-Chief of Brooklyn’s largest fortnightly paper – The Caribbean Impact. Maybe I’m just paranoid. There just might not be any more room at the table.
Yours faithfully,
Godfrey Wray
