Dear Editor,
Like most letters penned in this era there are twisted opinions that attribute guilt and obliterate considerations of the ‘Other’ as if he has no truths, or perhaps his humanity is so flawed that he could not retain his ancestral pain. The letter written by Sase Singh on David Hinds on January 31 is progressive, and I believe from a sincere Guyanese; so was Dr Hinds’s response. As Mr Singh rightly said, the jumbies of an earlier era are slowly beginning to fade away. That dark era we must explore in a more sober atmosphere, as it has bred many myths and hyped distortions about what transpired; I have learnt a lot which is both surprising and paradoxical.
The current predicament is that the PPP of 2007 to 2015, does not possess the national consciousness, sophistication or character to govern this country towards prosperity in the coming world. I would like to draw attention to two articles in last Sunday’s Stabroek (February 1): ‘A darker age beckons the world’ by Ian McDonald, and Dr Clive Thomas’s ‘Guyana then and now: small, poor, open and trade dependent.’ These articles provide information and allude to deficiencies that should raise questions about human talent or lack of talent that in the absence of Cold War paternalistic support, could render any nation ascendant or in the abyss. Despite the pitfalls, the institutions created between Burnham and Hoyte awakened in us a Guyanese self-awareness. That the PNC had its flaws, errors and petty dictators is known; that the political principles of Forbes Burnham brought us hardships cannot be disputed; but his economic policies were advanced, and have not been found wanting – in comparison to what, from this PPP?
It’s not the question of race that resonates with most of the Guyanese population outside of the PPP’s bottom house influence, but an embodiment of ‘office’ for the national benefit. If you ask most Afro-Guyanese who’s the Caribbean politician today that they most admire, and they will tell you it’s Trinidad’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar, because she commands accountability, she fires her Anil Nandlalls and will never be caught travelling on a money-laundering private jet. She would not wholesale a forest while building no forest product industry locally, and I will add another woman, Thuli Madonsela, the South African prosecutor who was recently given the Integrity awarded for 2014, for steadfastly upholding the principles of accountability in practice.
Burnham set the precedent for the interface of foreign investment with capacity building of the local work force. Then, neither he nor Hoyte were feeding economic empires for themselves and family. I stand with Mr Singh that Guyana needs a reality check. I have known David Granger for over two decades, and I cannot account for enough people I trust for the ten fingers I have, and I say David Granger is a man I trust; his values and principles are not self-centred and he will embrace fully the other patriots in the AFC. He will make the president to lead us out of this mire. I can also assure Mr Singh, that Mr Hinds’s case is not meant to advocate racism, as he explained the grounds of his position. The fact is, there’s nothing from antiquity to the present in the philosophies of Africa that adhere to a system of racism. Assess Afro-Guyanese from their resistance to Burnham, when that became necessary. In fact I shall add to his Martin Luther King statement with a more ancient African source, Terence Afer (Afer – Latin for African) who died in 159 bc. His statement encapsulates the natural propensity of most Afro-Guyanese; he left us this profound definition: “I am a man, and nothing human is alien to me.”
Yours faithfully,
Barrington Braithwaite
