By Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Introduction
With local elections around the corner, I dedicate this essay to all of us who want to come together to make our nation a better place for everyone and especially our children.
There comes a point in the history of every country when its citizens must take upon themselves the burden of forming a decent and upstanding nation.
Ideally, this happens during the early years of development and is not lost in the growth process. However, sometimes good intentions do get lost in the shuffle of bureaucracy and in the end the citizens are the ones who suffer the most, as we are suffering today.
Last week we celebrated 40 years as a Republic. In 1970, there were aspirations of economic, social and political expansion. With hope, we dreamed of the many possibilities that awaited a young and aspiring country.
Somehow, in the course of time, our hope was replaced with cynicism and regret. Our sense of decency suffers constant assailment to the point of fatigue as we’ve experienced in the last few weeks with the government presentation of the 2010 budget without a long-term development strategy.
Based on the President’s speech in Essequibo a few weeks ago on the paving of the coastal road, one would have thought that the PPP just got into power yesterday. It has been 18 years and counting and it still refers to the PNC’s 28 years in power as its excuse for under performance. If we add them together, we have 46 years and our nation is still struggling. With nepotism in high gear, the children of government officials are earning internationally competitive salaries while many of our public servants are paid a mere $28,000 per month. A family of four cannot even pay its electricity bill with $28,000.
We should not still just be an adolescent country; it is quite clear that the future is calling upon our generation to carry the burden of defining the standards on which our country shall thrive. Our insatiable thirst for responsive leaders has increasingly become more desperate with each year since our independence and is now culminated in a people who are disengaged, disenchanted and disheartened about their fair Guyana.
A way forward
“But not in vain we’ll strive to build, a new Guyana great and free; A land of glory and of hope, A land of love and Unity.”
This children’s hymn demonstrates the hope of our hearts and this hope should no longer be deferred. We can no longer relinquish the sole responsibility for the integrity and decency of Guyana to the government. It is time for each of us to play a vital role in the next stage of development lest we lose the best of the human spirit to apathy and self hate.
We alone can decide the political fate of our leaders and we can blame no one but ourselves for the state of Guyana. Yet each election year we fall into the same trap contrived by so-called leaders who would divide our people in their quest for political power. They recklessly cry racial partiality and our typical knee-jerk response is just as reckless. We are better than this. We are more decent and have more wisdom than to play into their dangerous games of vilifying one race over another. We must stand together in solidarity to defend against oppression, injustice and inequality.
In fact, we should unite as Guyanese countrymen and women and stand strong as one people against the wiles of scheming ruling politicians. We should insist on decent politicians who understand that their one purpose in office is to serve the people and to gladly accept that honour and responsibility. Our primary role as engaged citizens is to empower and monitor responsive government, which is in sharp contrast to the reactionary government now in place that only acts when desperation requires action.
“O children of Guyana, rise, Rise up and sing with happy tears: And bless the land that gave you birth, And vow to serve her through the years.”
The Hymn for Guyana’s Children calls each of us to civic participation. We are the vessels of potential in our country and our children will take this burden seriously to the degree we take it seriously. Engaged citizenry is not a trait easily caught; it is learned behaviour. We teach our children by our own participation or the lack thereof.
Indeed, the government was created for the people of Guyana – not the people for the government. Upon our own shoulders lie the responsibility of decency and the opportunity for greatness. There are some who might question their obligation as citizens since Guyana has offered them no great sense of pride. That is only because Guyana itself has been offered very little for which to be proud. A strong and united people cannot help but produce a strong country, which in turns produces stronger citizens. This cyclic relationship begins in your hands and in mine. Together, our hands can build a thriving country.
Conclusion
If “Together We Will” only consists of a few, then it is not the answer for Guyana’s woes. Yet if it consists of participation by all of us working together, the politicians, mothers, fathers, businessmen and women, farmers, teachers, students, the old, the young – then this would be all Guyanese working together for the good of the country and the outcome will be spectacular.
Guyana is often underestimated and the subject of negative conversation, but we know the capabilities of our land and our people. The only way to see their capabilities realized is by finally shedding our old habits of expecting the government alone to make something out of Guyana and doing something about it ourselves.
Our hope does not lie in the hands of the President or the Parliament. We are Guyana and through unity we can do what no government to date has been able to accomplish – social, economic and political stability.
“Great is the task that Thou hast given: Thy will to show, Thy truth to find: To teach ourselves that we are one, in Thy great Universal Mind.”
Until next time “Roop” Send comments to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com