Dear Editor,
It must now be clear to everyone that the seemingly endless critical letters to the press are serving no purpose other than probably to exacerbate the situation and cause further schism between protagonists and the government, to which most of these messages are directed.
It should also be equally obvious to the administration that they have a reciprocal duty to create avenues by which civil society, either individuals or organisations, can freely consult with the authorities (regional, central and departmental) on issues that are vital to our nation’s progress.
It must have been at the outset some professed disregard by those in power of the approaches by the general public that caused the rise and maintenance of this practice of airing grievances in a hypercritical manner in the press and on the airwaves, which most certainly makes public the incapacity of Guyanese to properly take care of our internal affairs.
Is it not possible to repair this situation by devising some institutional system by which personal contact can be made by those with some perceived problem with those who have the power to act on it effectively?
Every citizen has the right to be heard on any problem with which he is faced, and should be free, welcome and moreover encouraged to exercise this right to contact the appropriate authority about any grievance, however insignificant this may appear to be, and believe that he will get a fair hearing and follow-up action to address the problem.
Yours faithfully,
Roy Paul
