Dear Editor,
My family and I extend heartfelt sympathy to the family of Franklyn Reece who died on Sunday when a mining pit caved in. Our family also sends get-well wishes and a speedy recovery to Anthony Johnson who suffered a spinal injury. The Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated has been in the news forever, and every time something is said about them it always reflects how brutish management is to the locals and how disrespectful they are of the laws.
It is very troubling, to say the least, this independent country cannot assert its sovereignty and let the Russians know they cannot treat workers the way they do. Guyanese should have already been uniting on this, demanding the Russians change their ways.
A life was lost and another seriously injured. From what I am hearing this was not the workers‘ fault but the fault of a penny pinching and uncaring employer. Editor, it is highly disturbing the opposition political parties have been silent about this tragedy. Is it too much to expect some outpouring of sympathy from them, hearing them tell the Russians Guyana is not a colony and their attitudes are not welcome? Surely, Messrs Granger, Roopnaraine, Ramjattan, Trotman, Nagamootoo and Corbin cannot be too busy, or uncaring.
So far only the People’s Progressive Party and the Guyana Trades Union Congress have spoken. I am wary about the PPP using this tragedy for political mileage because the shabby treatment meted out to Guyanese only continues because of the government.
Today is Thursday and both APNU and AFC have interfaced with the media since Sunday. These politicians cannot be so caught up in themselves to forget they need the votes of the people to win. Surely, they cannot forget families and communities are grieving, and would like to hear words of comfort and assurances this tragedy would not become another unsolved mystery.
Yours faithfully,
Humphrey Charles
