Dear Editor,
Recent letter contributions to a section of the print media tend to indicate that there is a cadre of émigrés and others still resident in Region 11, whose extended sojourns in a less inhospitable environment have prepared them as matriculants of the esoteric science of solution methodology for the protean vicissitudes they perceive afflict their motherland. Their signal achievements, so far, have made them more or less relevant but unproductive, with no measurable dimension to the areas of deficiencies articulated by them, ie, criticism in abundance without tangible results. It would appear that their most formidable platform is the clichéd corruption chisel as the tool of redemption of our society; nothing innovative in form or substance.
At a minimum, resident Guyanese welcome their return and contribution and we all wish to benefit from the fountain of their acquired foreign wisdom in the now twilight of their lives. We expect them to roll up their sleeves, not figuratively but literally, in good old fashioned baring of their lower arms, shovel tightly clapsed, digging deeply in the muck of the residue of the virgin land abandoned by them at a time of want, under-development, insecurity and detritus. We expect them to leave untouched those developed parts to their fellow Guyanese who remained at home, and by their dedicated toil, sweat and blood, gave our countrymen (and women) hope, encouragement, pride and visibly measurable relief from the quagmire of bankruptcy and pervasive disillusionment of a past regime. It is not too late for them to leave their imprint in the sands of Guyanese prosperity, if not for themselves, for their children’s children, as Guyanese are wont to pontificate. Offering a brew of unspecified change, mixed with the narcotic of elusive hope but failing to present any credible investment portfolio rings hollow upon the concrete progress of the recent past.
Surfing on the crest of a wave of a recently established democratic polity, these agitators opportunistically bemoan the developmental elision associated with an incomplete
transition from the deprivation of the past to the progressive trajectory of the present. Multilateral financial institutions have acknowledged with metronomic synchrony that Guyana’s economic image continues to meet with fiscal approbation and remains structurally resistant to global fissures at a time when otherwise less vulnerable states had demonstrated an allergic sensitivity, consistent with a lack of vigilant oversight and prudent administration. Guyana’s teflon robustness, it may be fair to state, has been achieved through the superlative efforts of its dedicated paladins and its reliance on a diverse economic strategy which its executive management team has so perceptibly embraced.
No doubt, as happens elsewhere, Guyana’s marketplace combines brain with brawn and in Hebbian learning, the idea that “neurons that fire together, wire together” producing a visible neuronal avalanche of cascading activity. Consequently, with our joint efforts, fused in unison, the juggernauth of development could accelerate at a geometric pace along the rails of destiny, with the expectation that our final destination will be the green-eyed envy of states equally or better resourced in nature and intellect. Constancy must be the hallmark, not only of our aspirations but our endeavours, if the impossible is to become possible and more so, probable in the shortest possible time. History is only made by an addiction for work, long hours of study, labour and at times, the flash of inventive innovation. This is evident whether the field of endeavour is athletics, science, management, farming, construction, medicine, law, engineering, or any other means by which production and productivity can be measured. As proud Guyanese, we owe this much to be free from the clutches of our former imperialist masters.
With elections imminent, it may not be imprudent to invite these prophets of good governance, development and prosperity for Guyana as their primary purpose to form a political party or hitch their wagon to the train of existing parties, to contest these elections. In so doing they stand a chance to implement the programmes designed by them for the benefit of us all. No single contestant can meet the rigorous constitutional criteria for entering the contest, come May 11th 2015. The time has come to walk the walk and leave the talk behind. Patriotic Guyanese may wish to take a leaf out of the book of sacrifice, produced by the likes of Samuel Archibald Alexander Hinds, OE and /or Ashni Kumar Singh, PhD, among others.
Yours faithfully,
Justice Charles. R Ramson, SC
Attorney-General and
Minister of Legal Affairs (rtd)