Dear Editor,
Our country Guyana is one of great and majestic beauty. Many tourists are fascinated by our magnificent Kaieteur Falls, our tropical rain forest, the immortal beauty of the Essequibo River and the St George’s Cathedral. Our diverse culture of six races, the love and hospitality of our people is an inspiration to visitors from all walks of life. Our country is a place of unsurpassed beauty and serenity that captivates the mind and inspires our souls.
Yet we are at a time in our history when thinking people all over Guyana are troubled about issues such as the sudden rise in crime, unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, racial discrimination, alcoholism and the breakdown of home and family life. Many are perplexed about the violent crime situation that has left many innocent victims dead. Our present incompetent government is unable to tackle it, and it is about time we as a people rise up out of our slumber and vote for a change in leadership in this nation.
What can we do to promote change in our society? It is my belief that a person cannot call himself fully educated in Guyana’s politics until he has studied the political philosophy of this country from the Burnham era to the present.
It would be difficult today to present any serious analysis of human affairs without some attention being paid to the economic factors that have plagued the country. Our citizens today are faced with high electricity bills, water rates, rent and phone bills, along with heavy government taxes. What I have seen in our current crisis is taxation without representation. The poor and working class people are exploited and cheated by the state. The socialist ideology imposed upon us by Burnham and the communist view of life that was given to the Guyanese people by Dr.Jagan failed to push our country forward into the 21st century. We are left behind by bad government that does not possess a new vision to lead the Guyanese people.
We have seen a mass exodus of our Guyanese people that includes intellectuals and academics because our present government cannot provide jobs that will allow qualified people to live and work in Guyana. All of our skilled people are migrating to the USA, England, Canada, Europe and the wider Caribbean. People are leaving because they are frustrated by the incompetence of our leaders in power.
We have a very rich cultural heritage, our country produced some of the greatest scholars like LFS Burnham, Dr Walter Rodney, Sir Lionel Luckhoo, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Martin Carter, etc.
To achieve change we must have a new political ideology to bring a new vision to Guyana. Our political vision must be a vision for the people; and not a vision that will enable our politicians to exploit the nation to get rich quick.
We must have a leader who has discipline – a man of integrity and impeccable character. The leader must also have confidence in himself and the ability to instil in his people confidence in themselves. He must have a genuine concern for his people; when people see he has their interest at heart they will be interested in listening to what he has to say. The essence of good leadership is influence; the leader must have a vision to go somewhere and must be able to persuade others to go with him. He must be a leader with people skills or he will have no followers. He must have the citizens of our nation dear and close to his heart. Putting people before himself should be his ultimate goal and objective.
Our new vision for Guyana should be like a river, wide and golden in the sun, which can suddenly change mood because of a turbulent wind under silver-grey clouds. We as a united people can be like this river because we have the aptitude to change our power of thinking from a past archaic political tradition into a new contemporary vision for Guyana.
Our late national poet Martin Carter wrote: “I do not sleep to dream but dream to change the world.” We can inculcate these profound thoughts in our souls to see a new future for Guyana. What we need is a new democracy of unity and love that involves all Guyanese to see a better future tomorrow. With our hope and trust in God we will see a new dream that is the key to our success.
Yours faithfully,
Rev Gideon Cecil