Dear Editor
I want to tell those aged between 16 and 22 two things that their parents and elders won’t tell them but they’ve probably figured out for themselves: 1) The PPP government has failed them; and 2) they are capable of changing their circumstances, because they are the ones who control their destiny.
If you were to look at the Coat-of Arms of Jamaica, it says the same thing as that of Guyana, but in a different way. The difference between the US and Jamaica on the one hand, and Guyana on the other, is that Guyana is deeply divided by race while the Jamaicans and Americans place country above race; the election of President Obama speaks for itself.
Within the next two years, starting with local government elections (should these become a reality) and then the general elections, young people have the power to replace failed leadership with dynamic, inspired and inclusive leadership. Most of them only have direct knowledge of one party in government. When people are in power for that length of time, their thinking becomes ossified, they become complacent, complacency leads to incompetence and incompetence breeds corruption. This government is awash with corrupt behaviour.
The young have no doubt heard their parents speak disparagingly of the PPP and the PNC. That is their battle, their narrative. They are stuck in a time warp about who did what to whom and tit for tat. Young people should create their own narrative, one that is based on hope for a brighter future, respect for each other’s differences and one where their children do not inherit the sins of their parents and grandparents. They should not consign their future to their parents’ past. That is a losing formula that will reward them with more poverty, more racial division and disrespect from our Caricom neighbours as migrants seek to heal their self-inflicted wounds in someone else’s country.
Finally, at a minimum, it is the basic responsibility of a duly elected government to provide a level of security which allows people to feel secure in their dwellings. It is the responsibility of the government to provide an atmosphere where individuals are free to pursue liberty and happiness to the fullest extent of their abilities. This government has failed to provide a reliable power supply – think of it, the young are experiencing what their parents endured. That’s not progress. Their parents have never had more than one radio station and neither have they. That’s not progress. In their short lives they’ve been exposed to drug-trafficking, corruption, torture by the army and police, unabated legal and illegal migration (brain drain), death squads and massacres. That’s not progress.
Each generation has a moral obligation to make things better for each successive generation. This is their chance to write their generation’s narrative, to reject the bitterness and division of the past, to do better for themselves and future generations. They should seize the moment and be the generation of change. Change begins with them; it is time to live out the motto of our Coat-of Arms, One People, One Nation, One Destiny.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Jason
