Dear Editor,
My father was fond of saying “Wonders never cease, but daily increase.” The Guyana Chronicle’s bold front page on Wednesday stated, “42 more returned after eye surgery in Cuba,” and another batch left for the same purpose.
Yes, Guyanese from every walk of life have received over many years great assistance in training in university education and free medical attention from a country that is not wealthy − Cuba.
The erection of the Cubana Air Disaster Monument, apart from commemorating the death of 73 persons, including young Guyanese medical students, among others, was, after a painful hiatus, certainly intended to express with the rest of decent humanity an abhorrence of terrorism, and equally important show our solidarity with the leaders and people of Cuba, who lost an aircraft and suffered tremendous pain as a result of the despicable action which led to the blowing up of the Cubana aircraft off the coast of Barbados. Barbados has erected a monument to commemorate this event. Guyana is a much greater beneficiary from the benevolence of Cuba, and yet without a single valid reason − I repeat, without a single valid or acceptable reason − a government minister is allowed, using the power (not authority) which resides in the state apparatus to prevent the erection of this monument at a site identified and agreed to over two years ago.The work is well advanced, and the silence is deafening. I believe that every patriot needs to receive some explanation beyond the facile reasons given publicly so far.
Happily, since this order to cease work on the monument, I have received messages of solidarity from individuals and political groups. But this issue of the monument must not be divorced from a noticeable trend in Guyana. The recent wire-tapping and other bills in parliament are clear signs that we are now seeing a creeping dictatorship ahead of us, worse than anything ever experienced in Guyana.
What is of great concern, I’ve seen in one way or the other functionaries who cross the line of propriety, probity and protocol.
So we listen to strong statements promising to deal with wrongdoings, but that ends the story. Remember the Fidelity fraud probe? The torture report?
The Lindo Creek eyewitness? The Roger Khan fiasco? (This government knew nothing of his activities.) A koker collapses on the upper East Coast one month after it was completed – so far so good – any surcharges? Mon Repos Seas Defence collapses? The many roads done by government that last just a few months? The Charity floating wharf? The US$22,500 dollars contract to print the laws of Guyana awarded to Global Consultants Limited, in New York, whose leaders are certainly not neutral in our political arena?
Not to forget the spurious reasons given for not advertising this contract locally? The stoppage, the restoration of government ads to Stabroek News? The radio monopoly after a ‘return to democracy’?
I listened to one political leader on television this week, while celebrating the anniversary of their party’s establishment and what came out in my mind was the old adage that says, ‘You don’t take fire stick at night to look for things that you ought to see in daytime.’
Come on Guyana wake up before you are made into mud.Are we all collectively blind to see what is happening?
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green, JP
