Dear Editor,
GHK Lall’s letter in Stabroek News, titled, `Too many are irrevocably partisan that those who think along national lines are damned as outsiders’ (SN 10.23.09), is one of the more insightful letters that I have read, and after reading it, I was feeling quite hopeful, that is, until I read Dr. Randy Persaud’s letter in response to GHK Lall – ‘Many middle class Guyanese live a much better life compared to those in other societies they constantly praise,’ (SN 10-24-09). It is either that the good doctor did not read GHK Lall’s letter or, it may be that he was in the process of writing one of his fictional diatribes in defence of the Government, and so decided to excerpt part of it and publish it as a response to Mr. Lall’s letter. I came to this conclusion because there is absolutely nothing in Mr. Lall‘s letter that could have led Dr. Persaud to read it as a comparative analysis of the middle class in Guyana and the United States.
However, Dr. Persaud, playing to character, in his response proved the very case that Mr. Lall’s letter quite brilliantly made. Too many are irrevocably partisan that those who think along national lines are damned as outsiders. It is true that the more affluent societies have their socio-economic ills. So I wonder what Dr. Persaud would have us as Guyanese do. Should we be comforted by this, and thus ignore the socio-economic degradation and political malfeasants in Guyana?
Should we ignore the fact that corruption in government in Guyana is one of the highest in the world according to Transparency International; that since the advent of democracy in Guyana in 1992, no government official has been convicted in the judicial system, despite the many corruption scandals related to officials in the PPP administration? There is also corruption in the United States, but there is no class, race or political barrier to those who are accused and convicted.
The murder count in Baltimore, Maryland reached 282 in 2008, but the rate of murders solved was 86%. It is always sad when someone is murdered but it is even more devastating when relatives cannot see justice. In Guyana the rate of murders not solved – while no data exist- is believed to be about 90%.
Should we ignore the fact that one of the most dangerous individuals in Guyana’s history Roger Khan, a convicted Drug Baron, operated with immunity in Guyana and ‘enjoyed the friendship and favours’ of Government officials. Khan under the PPP administration acquired land, recruited serving police officers, allegedly ordered executions, imported and exported cocaine, laundered millions of dollars and possessed specialized intercept equipment allegedly acquired with the help of the PPP administration.
I am sure Dr. Persaud knows that the Home Affairs Minister during most of Khan’s illegal activities, including the extra-judicial killings of hundreds of Guyanese, Mr. Ronald Gajraj is also accused of having knowledge of Roger Khan activities in the extra-judicial killings, yet he still represents Guyana at the pleasure of the Guyana Government in an overseas mission.
While Dr Persaud can quote statistics that are readily available which reveal the socio-economic ills in the United States, the maladministration of Guyana is quite visible. What I know is that in the United States police with machine guns, for example, will not turn up, break down the door and arrest a 12 year old boy accused of stealing twelve thousand dollars, and release him from an adult jail two weeks later. This is the reality poor people in Guyana unable to write letters in Staboek News live.
In morally assertive and democratically inclined societies if a government official is accused of soliciting sex from an underage boy, that official, at least, is investigated and if need be the judicial system is allowed to work. The government that Dr. Randy Persaud now works for will not allow this decency of justice.
I can assure Dr. Persaud that African Americans and Latinos are protesting and fighting every day for improved conditions in their communities without fear of repression. They are looking to what is accepted in other societies as a measurement of how they should criticize their government. What Dr. Persaud failed to relate is that, most in the so-call middle class in Guyana have visas to the more affluent societies where they seek healthcare, shop and send their children to universities. It is the poor and downtrodden that must permanently suffer the wrath of the PPP’s mismanagement, ineptitude and gross corruption.
Upon his returning to Guyana I implored Dr. Persaud that even though he would be working for the Government he should ensure a more measured and less partisan approach to dialogue in Guyana, this he assured me. I am quite disappointed at how blatantly partisan he has become. Perhaps Dr. Randy Persaud is afraid of being damned an outsider.
Yours faithfully,
Dennis Wiggins
