Dear Editor,
Up until I read his statement about the opposition running the risk of becoming obsolete, I had a high regard for Mr Ramesh Dookhoo and considered him a friend, but alas it is amazing how people can change for a variety of reasons. His statement must be seen in the widest context of the change in our socioeconomic environment. He and I one time sat as members on the GWI board, and the first question is why as Chairman he has not tackled the question of water hydrants for the city, which he once felt were a necessity?
Yes, we can always have signs and symbols of progress and development while we crush the human soul. Perhaps Mr Dookhoo may not appreciate that there are massive buildings and great development yet the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens at an alarming rate. We have an educational system that is producing a minority of top flyers, but also a majority underclass condemned to perpetual poverty. David Granger put it accurately: educational apartheid.
We understand where Mr Dookhoo is coming from, but we have a duty to defend and protect the majority, some of whom are being marginalized. Beyond this, must we preside over the destruction of our rivers and the environment with heavy equipment while a few build castles, and the poor live in depressed areas and must protest for basic facilities like roads, water and good schools? Visit some areas where once you had clear streams, they are now polluted. What will you tell your children and their children when they see no marine life in the interior ‒ gaping holes, dirty holes ‒ slugs where even reptiles and snakes would not venture?
But I forget: the children of certain folks will not be here to see the mayhem; they’ll be comfortable elsewhere with the wealth generated at our expense. No thought for the Amerindian who can no longer survive in his surroundings.
Must we give up our country to aliens whose only interest is the mighty dollar, etc. Mr Dookhoo must comment on corruption and narco-trading, which in Guyana are a form of development. But if Amaila Falls is so glorious, as Carl Greenidge said, he and his group should invest. The old folks say, ‘Put your money where your mouth is.’
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green, JP