Dear Editor,
There is a saying, ‘silence is golden,’ and in the letter section of SN, I have been pretty quiet, just observing the commentaries on many issues facing the nation and refining my comments to deal with the most important criteria, and that is, to reach the truth; the truth is the essence of social transformation and
the essence of silence, while examining the facts results in a golden pathway ‒ a pure pathway ‒ to the truth.
The first topic concerns my godfather, President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham and the controversy over the Oliver Tambo award which was to be given to his family on Mr Burnham’s behalf and which was withdrawn because of protestations by those with their own agenda. That Tambo award belongs to all of us Guyanese , the majority I might say, who always supported the freedom fighters against the terrible regime in South Africa. President Burnham was foremost among leaders who openly opposed the racist regime of South Africa and the Tambo award is solely for foreign leaders who played significant roles in the liberation of South Africa. He was the legitimate leader of Guyana, recognized by all countries as such, even the communist countries to the extent that he was given the highest award in Cuba, the Jose Marti award.
We in Guyana all know of the contradictions which existed with the rigged elections and a quasi-police state under the PNC regime, but the issue at stake is that President Burnham deserves the Oliver Tambo award because he was relentless and dedicated to the South African struggle for freedom and all Guyanese should be proud to see his family receive that award on our behalf. If the criteria for the award were the commitment to democracy in each recipient’s country then let the naysayers explain how Fidel Castro, a known violator of human and civil rights in Cuba, received this award, not to mention Seke Toure of Guinea and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, two men who never embraced democratic standards. We need greater ties to South Africa and let us bring South African investment and know-how to invest and create good jobs here ‒ maybe we could start with South African Airlines giving competition to Caribbean Airlines and lowering the fares out of Guyana. The South African government should reinstate the award to President Burnham ‒ he deserved it!
The second topic I would like to comment on is leadership and the perceptions of leadership one might have when looking at current issues affecting us all. Recently, it was announced that Prime Minister Kamla Bissessar of Trinidad fired all the top executives of Caribbean Airlines after that corporation lost money and will name new people shortly; here in Guyana, GPL and GuySuCo are losing money at astronomical rates each and every year and our taxpayer dollars have to bail these two tired corporations out, but yet, President Ramotar has fired no one at all and placed Mr Raj Singh as Chairman of GuySuCo last year. Who is Mr Raj Singh and did he ever run any corporation in America where he lives? Leadership the Kamla way, is what we need here in Guyana, not the same old, same old waste of time leadership! Editor, Mr Ramotar needs to wake up and smell the coffee of leadership ‒ the Kamla way ‒ by sending Mr Raj Singh back to America. Failing government entities should be subjected to a massive firing of top executives who are doing a poor job in order to save taxpayers money and to bring a level of hope to the population that leadership is being provided.
Lastly, I would like to comment on the miserable job Minister Benn is doing, especially on our public roadways and our transportation on the rivers of Guyana. The road to our national airport is a disgrace with potholes, major dips on the surface and considerable patches which will break up and cause damage to vehicles using it. The West Coast roadway is another disgrace and Mr Benn needs to pay attention to it as well as the roadway on the East Coast up to Melanie. The roadways in our only real city, Georgetown, are in shambles and there is no effort on Minister Benn’s part to even fix these roads properly ‒ just simplistic patching which has no longevity or resilience.
The new ferries on the Essequibo have many problems and not serve the citizens well while the mayhem and confusion continues on our rivers as speedboats overload and overcharge our citizens.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan Jr
