Dear Editor
Many of your readers are surely intrigued by M Ali’s letter published Aug 15, relating the Amaila Hydro Project to rising sea levels on the populated coast of Guyana (‘Is the Amaila plant viable in view of rising sea levels’). From my present location I have to be concerned only for my loved ones and friends on the coast. And within the 25-year timeframe contemplated, I expect I shall have relocated again, beyond earthly space and time. I suspect Mr Ali is comparably situated, yet still he and I engage in speculations over the fate of the coastlands and coastlanders we used to know.
Now consider the mental position of those we have elected to decide on practical measures for the future of Guyana. They are constrained in a time-frame of only three years, till the next elections — unless they can take a deep enough breath even before late 2016. I do share Mr Ali’s doubt over the availability of qualified advisors, but our governments have never taken advice from outside their party headquarters anyway. None of us who muse on the future, referring to knowledge gained in past conditions, can influence what is decided by our government, motivated by factors that become more painfully obvious day by day. This is causing other inundations, sooner but more economically and socially significant than that by the Atlantic.
And even if you, Editor, publish our theoretical musings, for the amusement of readers living in the new socio-economic conditions, your columns have as much chance as the old sea walls to stem the rising tides. I am reminded that very early in the life of the Stabroek News you, in your then incarnation, published a letter from me with the concluding line, “But this is Guyana, so it doesn’t have to make sense.” How little, and how much, has changed since those forgotten days.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
